TEL-AVIV - Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday it had attacked the headquarters of Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence service in Tel Aviv on the fifth day of open military conflict.

Iran's state-run Tasnim news agency has posted a series of photos it says show the Mossad headquarters in flames after being hit by Iranian missiles.

Earlier, the Iranian military said offensives against Israeli territory would intensify in the coming hours, with a new wave of “violent attacks” using “new and advanced weapons”.

In Israel, the country's news also stated that new attacks are underway in the region.

Iran's state news agency IRNA quoted Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari, commander of the army's ground forces, as saying that hundreds of long-range drones with"precision capabilities and high destructive power" struck areas in the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.

“The enemy should know that a new wave of fierce attacks by the armed forces, especially the Army's ground forces, with new and advanced weapons, has begun and will intensify in the coming hours,” Heidari added.

Israel's air defense system activated in Tel Aviv amid rising tensions with Iran

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What is Mossad

Officially called the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, the Mossad has been responsible for covert and espionage operations outside Israel since 1949. Comparable to the CIA in the United States or MI6 in the United Kingdom, the agency's main objectives are to prevent enemies from acquiring and developing unconventional weapons and to prevent terrorist attacks.

The organization is led by a director, currently David Barnea, who reports directly to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

It is one of the main arms of the Israeli Intelligence Community, also composed of Aman (Military Intelligence Directorate, created in 1950) and Shin Bet (an intelligence agency more focused on internal security).

In addition to military experience, the Mossad seeks people with special skills in electronics, computing and linguistics.

Those who are accepted undergo intensive training covering a variety of areas, including espionage, combat, intelligence gathering, surveillance, sabotage and negotiation./ AFP