IDF issues evacuation warning for Tabriz industrial area — strike on Iran's northwest imminent

The Israeli military issued an evacuation warning early Saturday morning for an industrial area in Tabriz, Iran's second-largest city and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province in the country's northwest. The warning urged civilians to leave the designated area immediately. Throughout the 14-day conflict, IDF pre-strike evacuation warnings have reliably preceded airstrikes by a short window — making this warning a near-certain indicator of imminent bombardment of the targeted industrial zone. Tabriz is home to a range of defense-industrial facilities: the IRGC maintains logistics and materiel depots in the province, the city hosts Iran's Electronics Industries organization facilities, and has armored vehicle manufacturing at the Iran Tractor Manufacturing Company complex which has dual military use. Geographically, Tabriz in East Azerbaijan represents a significant expansion of IDF operations beyond the Tehran-Isfahan-Ahvaz-Shiraz axis that has dominated previous strike patterns. Located near the Azerbaijan and Turkey borders, strikes in Tabriz carry additional geopolitical sensitivity: proximity to NATO member Turkey and Azerbaijan's airspace. The warning also follows IDF strikes on Lebanese civilian infrastructure and UNIFIL positions — a pattern of geographic and target-type escalation across the conflict theater.