Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure Friday, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists — a barrage it said was necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon. Iran retaliated late Friday by unleashing scores of ballistic missiles on Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below. “We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a recorded message in which he vowed revenge. An Associated Press reporter saw smoke rising in Tel Aviv after an apparent missile strike. A Tel Aviv area hospital said it was treating 15 injured civilians. U.S. ground-based air defense systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures. Israel's ongoing airstrikes and intelligence operation and Iran's retaliation raised concerns about all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/nation-world/israel-hamas-conflict/israel-attacks-irans-nuclear-and-missile-sites/507-75273231-44c8-4abe-b1e7-fcbfd1654936