Israel was able to carry out extensive air incursions within Iran on Thursday despite the fact that he practically had no surprise element in his favor, leading Israel’s vast military superiority over his adversary and Tehran’s security vulnerabilities.
Last year, Israel seemed to calibrate his military responses to Iran, seeking to show resolution and send a warning to Tehran without drastically increasing the conflict. This time, Israel seems to have removed their gloves, analysts said.
The Israeli government said that dozens of combat aircraft had participated in the first stage of a broader operation that went to the main enrichment installation of Iranian uranium, sites of ballistic missiles and higher military officers. The Mossad Intelligence Service of Israel also carried out sabotage operations against air defense systems and missile batteries, Axios said.
Iranian state media reported that the main military and nuclear scientists were killed in Thursday’s operation, including the commander of the Revolutionary Guard of Iran, Hossein Salami.
Even before Thursday’s air attacks, Israel had demonstrated its ability to operate with almost impunity in Iran during the past year, pointing to senior figures for murder and bombing important air defense systems in the Islamic Republic without losing airplanes.
Israeli blows in October and April in 2024 reached the key S-300 air defense networks in Iran and the equipment used to make solid fuel for ballistic missiles.
Iran had suffered serious damage to its aerial defenses in previous air attacks, and underpin these systems was not something that could be achieved quickly, according to Michael Knights, of the Washington Institute for the Policy of the Near East.
“It is a great country with masses of objectives to protect against a very advanced opponent,” Knights said. “They simply do not have enough aerial defenses to keep the Israelis out, obviously.”
Although Israel could probably inflict serious damage to Iran’s nuclear program, it lacks the heavy bombs and aircraft necessary to effectively attack the nuclear sites of Iran, military experts and former American and Israeli officials.
After Thursday’s attacks, Iran will probably seek to change all their nuclear teams underground, experts said.
Iran has fought to effectively counterattack Israel since the two countries entered into direct conflict last year.
After seven officers in the revolutionary guards were killed in an alleged Israeli attack in Damascus last April, Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones in Israel. But most projectiles were demolished by Israel, the United States and other countries in the region.
After the leaders of the Hezbollah militia backed by Iran in Lebanon were killed in an Israeli operation last year, Iran launched more than 180 ballistic missiles in Israel, causing only minimal damage.
