With dust settling down on the massive Israeli early morning airstrikes on Iran, details emerge how the Israeli Air Force wiped out almost the entire top Iranian military command, eliminating around 20 highest-ranking generals and commanders.
The list of top military brass taken out in the strike include the head of Iranian armed forces, chief of Islamic Guard (IRGC) and head of the regime’s Emergency Command. “Iran said several top commanders and six nuclear scientists were killed in Israeli strikes on Friday targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders to prevent Tehran from developing an atomic weapon,” Reuters reported.
“At least 20 senior Iranian commanders, including the head of the revolutionary guards, Aerospace Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, were killed in Israel’s strikes on Iran on Friday,” the news agency reported citing regional sources.
Iran’s senior-most Air Force generals, including the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Forces, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, were reportedly killed in a brilliantly planned single strike. The IDF got them the entire Iranian Air Force command to assemble at one place “by tricking them into gathering at the underground facility that was subsequently targeted in a precision strike,” Israeli news website YNET reported.
“According to the military, IDF intelligence identified that the IRGC air force leadership was meeting in an underground bunker to coordinate a potential strike against Israel. The site was then hit by Israeli fighter jets,” the news website.
Besides decapitating Iran’s military leadership, Israel dealt a devastating blow regime’s nuclear weapons program and eliminated its top nuclear weapons scientists, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in televised address Friday morning.
“We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz,” he said. “We targeted Iran’s leading nuclear scientist working on the Iranian bomb.”
This is the single biggest blow to the Islamic regime in its 46-year rule. The Associated Press described the strike as “the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq.”
Israel struck regime’s main nuclear weapons facility in Natanz, central Iran. “Fireballs and plumes of smoke could be seen coming from the facility after Israeli strikes hit more than 100 targets in Iran. Natanz is one of Iran’s key sites for uranium enrichment,” the UK newspaper Guardian reported citing Iranian state-run media.
No radiation was detected following the Israeli strike. “The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that the enrichment plant had been hit and added later that the Iranian authorities had not detected any increased radiation levels at the site,” the Uk daily added.
The IDF officially confirmed hitting the Natanz nuke site, the Israeli news website Arutz Sheva reported:
IDF Spokesperson Effie Defrin confirmed on Friday evening that Israel struck the nuclear facility in Isfahan, Iran, as part of Operation Rising Lion.His statement followed reports of explosions in Isfahan earlier in the day.”It can now be revealed that we struck the nuclear facility in Isfahan earlier today, in addition to the attack in Natanz,” Defrin said during a press briefing.The IDF later said in a statement, “A short while ago, IAF fighter jets completed a strike on the Iranian regime’s nuclear site in the Isfahan area, guided by precise intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate. At the site, a process of ‘reconversion’ of enriched uranium takes place. This is the stage after uranium enrichment in the nuclear weapons production process.”According to the IDF, the strike dismantled a facility for producing metallic uranium, infrastructure for reconverting enriched uranium, laboratories, and additional infrastructure.
According to Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel “also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile program.”
The Israel military confirmed hitting Iranian’s surface-to-surface missile arsenal. “In the last few hours, Israeli Air Force fighter jets, guided by precise intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate, completed a series of strikes against the Iranian regime’s surface-to-surface missile array,” the IDF said in a statement Friday afternoon.
“As part of the strikes, dozens of launchers, surface-to-surface missile storage facilities, and additional military sites were destroyed. At one of the sites struck in western Iran, a unique launch mechanism was embedded within shipping containers,” the statement added.
Despite today’s stunning success, air operations against the Iranian nuclear program and military capabilities were continuing in full swing. “We are continuing with full force and at a high pace in order to meet the goals we have set for ourselves,” the chief of IDF’s general staff, Lt. General Eyal Zamir, assured in a statement Friday afternoon.
Anticipating an Iranian retaliation, the military called upon people to stay close to bomb shelters and avoid public places. “The Home Front Command has now instructed residents across the country to remain close to protected spaces. Movement in public areas should be minimized, and public gatherings must be avoided,” the IDF announced Friday evening. “Upon receiving an alert, enter a protected space and remain there until an official update is issued.”
Iran reportedly launched over 100 drones following the initial Israeli strike earlier this morning. Israeli air defense systems intercepted several of those drones as they approached the country’s airspace.
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