Hundreds of civilians, mostly in Iran, have been killed by dueling airstrikes despite international pleas for de-escalation.

At least 24 people have been killed in Israel as Iran launched retaliatory airstrikes targeting civilian areas. A U.S. Embassy branch in Tel Aviv suffered minor damage.

By Alexander Cornwell, Parisa Hafezi and Jeff Mason TEL AVIV/DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Iranian missiles struck major Israeli cities on Monday while Israel's prime minister said his country was on its way to eliminating "threats" from nuclear and missile facilities in Iran and civilian casualties mounted on both sides.

Iran has failed to organize ground-based air defenses in ways that could have significantly impeded the ability of Israeli aircraft to operate over its territory. This was, above all, the result of a fatal political miscalculation.

The Iranian regime faces pressure as Israel strikes military targets, with Iranian Americans advocating for the overthrow of what one Iranian American describes as a "paper tiger regime."

It’s a tableau no world leader — except perhaps President Donald Trump — wants to repeat. Convening in the Canadian Rockies for this week’s Group of 7 summit, presidents and prime ministers are hoping to avoid the acrimony that pervaded the last time this country played host to the world’s most exclusive club.

Israel’s air defenses---a multi-layered system that includes the famed Iron Dome---are among the best in the world and the most battle-tested, but even so they aren't completely impenetrable, Israeli officials and air-defense experts say.

The president had opposed Israeli action against Iran but came to believe that Israel had reason to act and that the U.S. would have to lend some support.

Israel and Iran both have little incentive to stop and no obvious route to outright victory. Much depends on President Trump.

BBC Verify uses open-source intelligence, satellite imagery, fact-checking and data analysis to help report complex stories Using new satellite imagery to locate strikes and assess damage across Iran and Israel as the conflict between the two countries enters its fourth day Hello and good morning from the live page team here at BBC Verify.

French authorities ordered black partition walls erected around some Israeli defense industry exhibits at the Paris Air Show, a move denounced by Israel's Defense Ministry, which demanded an immediate reversal.