Dozens of targets in three waves: what did Israel attack in Iran?

The response arrived: 25 days after the Iranian attack that included about 180 missiles, Israel carried out an extensive attack early Saturday morning with hundreds of aircraft in several waves against military targets throughout Iran – with the air defense system and ballistic missile capabilities of the Revolutionary Guards at the center of the attack. Damage to the nuclear and oil facilities of the Ayatollah regime was indeed avoided, but the attack was so extensive that it began around 02:00 and ended a little before 06:00, after Israel attacked about 20 targets in three waves.

Israel informed the US even before the attack was carried out, during which Defense Minister Yoav Galant spoke with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. According to a report in the “New York Times”, Iranian citizens heard explosions from Isfahan, which is located in the west of the country, to Mashhad, the country’s second largest city, which is located In the east – and close to Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The distance between Mashhad and Israel is about 2,300 km. On the other hand, the Ayatollah regime tried to dwarf it even during the attack.

While very few documents flowed from Iran, the state media agencies tried to broadcast that no significant event happened. The Tesnim Agency, for example, claimed that there was no missile or any damage at all to the Revolutionary Guard bases in the west and southwest of Tehran as claimed. After that, in the same state news agency they said, that “Iran is ready to respond”. At the same time, the Lebanese “Al-Mayadeen” network, which is close to Hezbollah, claimed that the threatening messages sent by Iran with the help of intermediaries “dissuaded” Israel. Alongside this, they claimed that the Iranian air defense system managed to intercept Israeli drones in the eastern district of Tehran.

However, from the few documents that came from the area, it was possible to get the impression that one of the attacks happened in the south of Tehran, near the mausoleum of the first supreme leader – Ruhollah Khomeini. Another target of the attack, according to reports, was the city of Karaj, which is close to Tehran. From air traffic monitoring sites it is evident that this has gone very wrong. At the same time, Iraq’s Ministry of Transportation announced the suspension of air traffic in the country until further notice, while their Iranian counterparts performed a similar action.

According to the Assad regime’s claims, Israel also attacked their territory around 02:00. This attack, if indeed it was carried out as claimed in Damascus, was probably intended to ensure the safety of the fighter jets on their way to Iran. From publications that appeared on social networks from Jordan, fighter jets were observed crossing the airspace of the country, and therefore it is reasonable to assume that they also crossed the airspace of Syria and Iraq on the way to Iran.

All the Air Force planes returned safely, after the attack by surface-to-surface missiles and anti-aircraft systems. The attacks were carried out, officially, at a distance of 1,600 km – shorter than Israel’s attacks against the Houthis in the Hodeida region of Yemen.