Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, shortly after his capture in 2003, in a screenshot from a YouTube video uploaded December 17, 2016.
Defense Minister Israel Katz warns Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “of a fate similar to Saddam Hussein,” during an assessment this morning with the IDF’s top brass, his office says.
“I warn the Iranian dictator against continuing to commit war crimes and launching missiles at Israeli civilians. He would do well to remember the fate of the dictator in the country neighboring Iran who chose this same path against the State of Israel,” Katz says, referring to Hussein, an Iraqi strongman who was overthrown in 2003 during the US invasion of Iraq and later found hiding in a desert hole and hanged.
Katz references an Israeli strike a day earlier on the Tehran headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, saying other extensions of the Iranian civil regime’s rule may also be targeted.
(L-R) Defense Minister Israel Katz meets with Intelligence Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, Operations Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, June 17, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
“We will continue today as well to act against regime and military targets in Tehran, just as we did yesterday against the propaganda and incitement broadcasting authority,” he says.
“I urge the residents of Tehran to evacuate those areas in accordance with the IDF Spokesperson’s instructions in Persian, for their own protection,” Katz adds.
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The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
