The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) hit military targets throughout Iran during the early morning hours on Saturday in retaliation for Iran launching more than 180 ballistic missiles into Israel at the start of the month.
The IDF said in a statement that the strikes were now over and that its objectives were achieved. Israel did not hit Iranian oil or nuclear facilities.
More than 100 combat aircraft, launched from inside Israel, were used during the strikes, according to The New York Times.
Iranian media said several members of the military were killed during the strikes on 20 different locations, which concluded around 6 a.m.
The IDF said that the fighter jets “struck missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the State of Israel over the last year.”
“Simultaneously, the IDF struck surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities, that were intended to restrict Israel’s aerial freedom of operation in Iran,” the statement continued.
The IDF said that it only deployed “some” of its wide range of offensive operational capabilities during the strikes “on strategic assets deep within Iranian territory.”
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It said that it was ready to engage in further offensive or defensive military action if need be.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman posted a video on X showing the Israeli fighter jets returning home after the mission.
Israel fighter jet squadrons all returning home from Iran after destroying its air defense systems and several military installations. Kol Hakavod! pic.twitter.com/J1HBXRT6OU
— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) October 26, 2024
The message to Iran was clear. Israel has a significant military and technology advantage over Iran and has the ability to operate with impunity in Iranian airspace.
During the first wave of the operation, Israel targeted “air defense batteries and radars” in Iraq and Syria from Iran’s allies to prevent any disruptions during the operation, the Times noted. Israeli jets then hit air defenses inside Iran.
In the second wave of the attack, Israel struck manufacturing facilities responsible for building Iran’s long-range missiles. The strikes focused on “destroying a critical component in the production process,” the report said.
This was the largest attack on Iran since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Iran mostly downplayed the result of the strikes, suggesting that there was little to no damage.
Experts said that Iran downplaying the strikes was a positive sign because it indicated that the Islamic regime had no appetite for escalating the conflict against a vastly superior opponent.
The extent of the damage was not yet clear, but it appeared to be highly precise and achieved the intended the goal of establishing deterrence.
Joe Truzman, senior research analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), posted satellite images that showed the impact of the strikes on one location.
“Satellite images provided to me by a source reveal that the Parchin military base, east of Tehran, was targeted overnight by the IAF,” he wrote.
“The image on the left depicts the site prior to the strike, while the post-strike image on the right indicates two areas affected by an attack,” he added.
Satellite images provided to me by a source reveal that the Parchin military base, east of Tehran, was targeted overnight by the IAF. The image on the left depicts the site prior to the strike, while the post-strike image on the right indicates two areas affected by an attack. pic.twitter.com/Um2WbPh0Y6
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) October 26, 2024
