As the war entered its fifth day, Iran and its Lebanon-based proxy terrorist group, Hezbollah, launched the first coordinated rocket strike of the war.
Ballistic missiles from Iran and Hezbollah rockets from Lebanon targeted population centers in northern and central Israel. Israeli air defense systems intercepted most of the incoming projectiles, Israeli media reports indicate.
“Iran and Hezbollah launch simultaneous barrages on Israel in first coordinated strike of war,” Ynetnews reported. “Missiles from Iran and rockets from Lebanon fired at the same time toward central and northern Israel, setting off widespread sirens as air defenses intercepted the projectiles and no injuries were immediately reported.”
Israeli air defense systems on early Wednesday afternoon detected “several launches that were launched from Lebanon toward Israeli territory were identified,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement. “The majority of the launches were intercepted.”
The objective of these coordinated missile and rocket barrages seems to be the overwhelming of the Israeli air defense systems, which could allow some projectiles to pass through and strike population centres.
The coordinated missile attack comes a day after an Israeli strike in Tehran killed the IRGC-Quds commander directing Hezbollah’s terrorist offensive against Israel.
According to Israel’s Ynetnews, the slain commander Ali Zadeh’s “Lebanon Corps serves as a key link between Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group based in Lebanon.”
Israel eliminated thousands of regime fighters during the ongoing Operation Roaring Lion, a senior Israeli Air Force officials confirmed.
The Times of Israel reported:
A senior Israeli Air Force officer says Israel’s strikes in Iran have killed thousands of Iranian soldiers amid the ongoing conflict.“In the past two days, we have killed thousands of Iranian forces,” says Col. “Aleph,” the commander of the Ramat David Airbase — identified only by his first initial in Hebrew — in a video published by the military.The airbase commander says he participated in the latest wave of strikes on a massive Iranian military compound in eastern Tehran.“Seconds before I dropped the bombs, I looked right and left, and saw dozens of fighter jets beside me. They’re flying freely, dropping hundreds of tons of precise munitions and destroying the targets,” he adds.
An IDF Special Forces’ unit is currently operating deep inside Iran, a senior Israeli Air Force official said.
While the official did not disclose further details, Israeli media suggested that je could be referring to the Air Force’s Unit 5101, also known as Shaldag. This is first reported covert operation attributed to Shaldag inside Iran. In previous conflicts, the unit had carried out missions against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the IDF website confirmed.
Ynetnews reported:
Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar revealed Wednesday evening in a letter to his subordinates about Operation Roaring Lion in Iran that “fighters from the Air Force’s special units are currently carrying out extraordinary missions that could ignite the imagination.” The remark may hint that operatives from the elite Shaldag unit are operating on Iranian soil.
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