Israel says it destroyed Iran's air defenses, killed top commanders

Ya Libnan

17 hours ago

Earlier Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the IDF had begun 'Operation Rising Lion,' with a massive wave of airstrikes against dozens of Iranian nuclear sites, military commanders and research scientists, saying the goal was to 'roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival.'
Like Netanyahu, IDF spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin, in a video statement delivered Friday, called the attack on Iran preemptive, saying Israeli intelligence had uncovered an Iranian 'plan to destroy Israel that has taken shape in recent years.' He said that plan involved Iran 'racing towards a nuclear bomb,' working to double or triple its ballistic missile stockpile, and continuing to 'finance, arm, and operate its proxies throughout the Middle East against the State of Israel.'
'I can confirm that the senior security leadership of the Iranian regime has been eliminated in the strike: the Iranian Chief of Staff, [Mohammad] Bagheri; the Commander of the Revolutionary Guards, [Hossein] Salami; and the Head of the Emergency Command, [Gholamali] Rashid,' Defrin said, adding that other commanders had been killed and that Israeli would provide further updates. He said Israel had 'targeted and struck the Iranian regime's aerial defense arrays.'
The IDF said its operation would continue for days, but that the first wave consisted of 200 Israeli fighter jets dropping 'over 330 different munitions,' to hit more than 100 targets in Iran.
'The breadth and scale of these strikes — against senior Iranian officials and other military facilities in addition to nuclear sites — suggest this operation is intended to not just dissuade Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons, but also cripple any potential military response and even to destabilize the regime,' Matthew Savill, Director of Military Sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a British military think tank, said in a statement. 'Israel has once again demonstrated its considerable conventional military superiority, and the size of the force allegedly assembled for this series of attacks represents the overwhelming bulk of their longer-range strike aircraft. They have the ability to conduct multiple such rounds of strikes, but operating for an extended duration over this considerable range will stretch even the Israeli Air Force.'
Savill said Iran's response 'might be delayed or split into multiple phases, but their main weapon will be ballistic missiles, which have the best chance of inflicting damage on Israel, whereas drone and cruise missile attacks will face more extensive Israeli defenses. Israel operations have therefore targeted air defenses and ballistic missile sites to forestall this.'
Savill said that if Iran 'believes the U.S. or others were involved' in the Israeli strike, then their retaliation could include targeting the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, and American air facilities in Qatar, 'though both would widen the conflict to drag in others.'
Iranian state media said the Israeli strikes had hit several cities, including in the capital of Tehran and the city of Natanz, a key center for Iran's uranium enrichment program. The IDF said it struck Iran's uranium enrichment site in the Natanz area.
'The underground area of the site was damaged,' the IDF said in a statement. 'This area contains a multi-story enrichment hall with centrifuges, electrical rooms, and additional supporting infrastructure. In addition, critical infrastructure enabling the site's continuous operation and the Iranian regime's ongoing efforts to obtain nuclear weapons were targeted.'
The United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA,
said in a series of social media posts
that its Director General Rafael Grossi had been in contact with Iranian authorities on Friday who told him the country's highly-sensitive and highly-secured Fordo nuclear site 'has not been impacted' by the Israeli strikes.
The IAEA also said Iran's 'Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant had not been targeted and that no increase in radiation levels has been observed at the Natanz site.'
On Friday, during a visit to Sweden, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters that 'this was a unilateral action by Israel. So I think it is crucial for many allies, including the United States, to work as we speak to de-escalate.'
Despite the ongoing attacks, Rutte said he believed the region was 'not close' to a possible nuclear conflict.
While there have been no claims that Iran has yet built a nuclear weapon, Israel is believed to have multiple warheads, though it has never formally confirmed nor denied its status as a nuclear-armed nation.
Iranian officials quickly threatened retaliation to the attack, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying Israel 'should await a harsh response.'
The IDF said in a statement before Iran's retaliatory strikes that it had prepared for 'a campaign on the frontline and on the home front.'
Netanyahu said Israel's strikes against Iran, 'will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.'
Shortly after Israel's strikes, the U.S. Embassy in Israel ordered American personnel to shelter in place.
A day beforehand, the Trump administration
ordered
non-emergency U.S. personnel to leave Iraq and allowed U.S. military family members to leave the Middle East voluntarily.
Israel has carried out strikes against Iranian proxies in recent years, while Iran has backed foes of Israel, including the militant group Hamas.
In April of last year, Iran
launched missiles and drones
at Israel after a strike on Iran's consulate
in Damascus
was widely attributed to Israel, but the Israeli military intercepted the vast majority of the weapons.
Six months later, Iran
launched more
missiles at Israel, which retaliated with strikes on Iranian sites.
Friday's back-and-forth could escalate to be among the most severe clash between Israel and Iran, which have been adversaries for decades. Mr. Trump warned earlier in the week that the strikes could snowball into a 'massive' conflict.
Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at the Chatham House think tank, said in a statement Friday that the Iran-backed Houthi's in Yemen could play a role in the Iranian response to Israel.
'With Iran currently weakened and humiliated, this marks the first time the Houthis will be called upon to repay decades of Iranian investment and support,' Al-Muslimi predicted. 'Following the
killing of Hassan Nasrallah
in Lebanon and the
collapse of the Assad regime
in Syria, the Houthis have effectively become Iran's first line of defense against Israel — an increasingly central role.'
Al-Muslimi said the Houthi response could extend beyond retaliatory strikes on Israel itself.
'Strikes in the Red Sea will likely resume, the ceasefire with the United States may unravel, and we shouldn't be surprised if Saudi Arabia and the UAE are dragged back into direct conflict in Yemen,' Al-Muslimi said. 'Attacks by the Houthis on U.S. military bases in the Gulf, the Horn of Africa, and naval forces at sea are also highly plausible.'
The Israeli strikes and Iranian counterattack came amid efforts by President Trump to strike a new deal with Iran to limit the country's nuclear ambitions — an idea Israel has long been dubious of.
The U.S. and Iran were set to hold talks Sunday, multiple U.S. officials told CBS News. There was no immediate comment from any high-ranking Iranian officials that those plans would change after Israel's attack, but some reports in Iranian media outlets indicated Iran would likely no longer participate in the negotiations.
'With Israel's actions, the sixth round of negotiations with the United States will probably not be held,' Iranian lawmaker Aladdin Boroujerdi, a member of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said, according to Iranian media.
CBS NEWS