JERUSALEM — Jerusalem’s side of the “massive” joint US-Israeli attack on Iran today involved the Israeli Air Force striking more than 500 targets using 200 warplanes, the Israel Defense Forces said.
“This is the largest military flyover in the history of the Israeli Air Force (IAF), conducted following accurate planning and based on high-quality intelligence, while synchronizing hundreds of fighter jets at the same time,” the IDF said in a statement today, dubbing the strikes Operation Roaring Lion. The US called its campaign Operation Epic Fury.
The IDF said in a statement this morning that the first wave of strikes hit “dozens” of targets. The IDF said that the strikes by the IDF and US were launched to “degrade the Iranian terrorist regime and to remove existential threats to the State of Israel over time.”
“The IAF’s fighter jets dropped hundreds of munitions targeting approximately 500 objectives, including aerial defense systems and missile launchers, in a number of locations in Iran, simultaneously,” the IDF said. The air force published several videos of targets its struck, including a rocket launcher and drone that had been launched toward Israel.
Iran’s air defenses had already been crippled during a 12-day war in June. Unlike in that conflict, where the US carried out one round of strikes towards the end of the 12 days, this time the US and Israel carried out strikes together on the first day.
Israel said it has targeted key leadership of the Iranian government, though it’s unclear how successful those strikes have been for the IDF. It has also been going after rocket launchers and launch sites, particularly in western Iran.
“One of the strikes targeted a site in Tabriz in western Iran. The site was used by the Iranian Surface-To-Surface Missiles Unit, from which the unit had planned to launch dozens of missiles toward Israeli civilians,” the IDF noted. In a separate statement the IDF said it had struck an “advanced SA-65 aerial defense system located in the Kermanshah area in western Iran.”
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying that “the time has come for all segments of the people in Iran – the Persians, the Kurds, the Azeris, the Balochis, and the Ahwazis – to rid themselves of the yoke of tyranny and bring about a free and peace-seeking Iran.” The IDF added that “the Iranian regime has not abandoned its plan to destroy Israel. … The IDF identified that the regime continued efforts to advance production, fortify, and conceal its nuclear program, alongside rehabilitating its missile production processes.”
Israel sounded sirens nationwide just after eight in the morning to warn of possible Iranian retaliation, calling it a “protective alert.”
The IDF’s Home Front Command issued instructions to people to remain close to shelters. Iranian barrages of ballistic missiles began targeting Israel just after 10 in the morning and continued throughout the day. The IDF has since called up tens of thousands of reservists for potential action.
“In accordance with the multi-front situational assessment, the Operations Directorate has begun a large-scale reinforcement of ground forces across all sectors and regional commands, as well as the reinforcement and deployment of special forces, as part of strengthening readiness for various offensive and defensive scenarios,” the Israeli military added.