The Israel Air Force struck and destroyed an MI-17 helicopter belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at the Sanandaj Airport in Hamadan, Iran, overnight, the military said on Thursday morning.
The IAF continues to expand its air superiority across western Iran as it degrades the IRGC's air force capabilities, according to the IDF.
Additionally, the military said that on Wednesday, the IAF identified and killed a member of the IRGC's Basij militia guarding the entrance to one of the Basij's bases in western Iran.
Further, the IDF noted that it had targeted Basij operatives stationed at over 10 different posts across Tehran.
IDF strikes Iranian assets in Caspian Sea
The strike comes a day after sources told The Jerusalem Post that the IDF struck Iranian military targets in the Caspian Sea for the first time since the start of Operation Roaring Lion.
No Israeli officials have confirmed the matter as of Thursday morning.
Separately, the IDF said on Wednesday that Israeli jets struck over 200 Iranian regime targets in western and central Iran, including sites used by the Iranian regime to store and launch ballistic missiles and UAVs, as well as air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, and weapon production sites.
Iran's FM: no restraint
In a post on his X/Twitter account, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote that Iran's response to Israel's attack was restrained due to respect for requested de-escalation, and that if Iran's infrastructure were to be struck again, there would be no such restraint.
He also added that "any end to this war must address damage to our civilian sites."
Amichai Stein, Tzvi Jasper, and Aaron Glick contributed to this report.