Iran's air defenses were diminished in rounds of conflict, giving Israel greater aerial freedom.
Israel's powerful strikes that targeted Iran's nuclear infrastructure and killed senior military officials have been underpinned by its ability to traverse Iran's skies without significant disruptions, according to current and former Israeli officials.
Israeli fighter jets have been able to repeatedly strike sensitive targets across Iran, including in the capital, Tehran, after destroying much of Iran's air defenses. The dynamic has left Iran struggling to defend itself as Israel launches the biggest attack in its history against the Islamic Republic.
'We have opened up the skies of Iran, achieving near-air superiority,' Yechiel Leiter, Israel's ambassador to the United States, said on social media.
Still, Israel does not have complete freedom of operation in Iran, and Iranian officials have claimed to have shot down Israeli drones in recent days.
Some of Iran's air defense systems remain intact, requiring Israeli pilots to navigate through carefully mapped aerial corridors, according to an Israeli defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. The Israeli military, the official said, relies on real-time intelligence to track possible threats to its aircraft as they enter and exit Iranian airspace.
At least 128 people in Iran have been killed, according to the country's health service. The toll included top security chiefs, nuclear scientists and civilians.
Opening up Iran's airspace was a gradual process. During two clashes with Iran in April and October of last year, Israeli security forces struck important air-defense systems. In the October attack, Israel hit four S-300 systems, according to Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister at the time.
Since Friday, Israel has continued to target Iran's air defenses, carving out a pathway for Israeli fighter jets to reach Tehran freely, according to two Israeli military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News in an interview on Sunday that Israel had worked to 'peel off the layers of protection' of Iranian defenses.
Israeli aircraft, in turn, now have the ability to fly through much of Iranian airspace almost as easily as they can over Lebanon and Syria, according to Zohar Palti, a former senior official in Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service.
'Let's say I have a target that I missed or that I'm not happy with the result,' said Mr. Palti, now an international fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 'I can go back tomorrow and the day after tomorrow again, again, and again.'
Even Iranian officials have acknowledged shortcomings in their defenses.
In private text messages shared with The New York Times on Friday, some officials were angrily asking one another, 'Where is our air defense?' and 'How can Israel come and attack anything it wants, kill our top commanders, and we are incapable of stopping it?'
Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting to this article.
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