The Israel Air Force struck around 20 military sites in three waves in a retaliatory strike on Iran on Saturday morning.
The attacks focused on disabling Iran’s air defenses and damaging its long-term ability to develop additional ballistic missiles, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
There were no indications that the IDF’s over 100 aircraft and drones struck the Islamic Republic’s existing ballistic missile supplies, which would likely have required strikes at underground sites.
Operation “Days of Repentance” was declared over by 5:45 a.m., just as the sun began rising over Tehran.
Axios and The New York Times also reported hits on Iran’s drone production facilities, but the Post has learned that this was less of a focus than ballistic missile production.
In response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel—right now the Israel Defense Forces is conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran. The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking… pic.twitter.com/OcHUy7nQvN
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 25, 2024
Iran told AFP that it had not received any reports of injuries from the strikes.
The Post understands that the operation was significantly targeted at weakening Tehran’s desire to use up additional ballistic missiles, knowing that they may be several months or more away from being able to restore future ballistic missile production.
Also, the Post understands it was targeted at eliminating air defenses over critical military bases, including around Tehran, to send a message to the ayatollahs that if they attack the Jewish state again, they will be defenseless against the next Israeli airstrikes.
The IDF said its counterattack operation against Iran was complete, following two Iranian attacks on Israel: one in April and one on October 1.
All mission goals had been achieved, with all planes returning safely home, the army said.
In the strike on Iran, the IAF hit missile manufacturing sites that produced the missiles Tehran fired at Israel over the past few months.
Parallel operations
Simultaneously, the IDF struck surface-to-air missile arrays intended to restrict Israel’s aerial freedom of operation in Iran.
“Israel reserves the right to defend its citizens if the Iranian regime continues attacks against the State of Israel and its civilians,” the IDF said.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was directing the attacks from a secure complex in the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said, “This is in response to persistent attacks by the Iranian regime on the State of Israel.”
A second wave of airstrikes came following blasts heard in Shiraz later in the morning.
Only minor changes in Home Front Command orders were announced for northern areas and none for the center or southern parts of the country.
Over 100 planes were involved in the 2000-km. attack, including the F-35.
The United States was notified by Israel ahead of its strikes on targets in Iran but was not involved in the operation.
“We understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defense and in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1,” said Sean Savett, White House National Security Council spokesperson. “We would refer you to the Israeli government for more information on their operation.”
There were reports of widespread Internet outages across Iran as the attacks continued.
Targetting military bases
Several of the strikes in Tehran targeted military bases across southern and southwestern Tehran, according to Iranian media.
Loud sirens were heard in Sadeghiyeh (Aryashahr) neighborhood in western Tehran as Israel started its airstrikes, a video obtained by @IranIntl_En shows. pic.twitter.com/vpagCU5l5Y
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) October 26, 2024
Karaj, one of the cities where explosions were heard, contains one of Iran’s nuclear facilities and was mostly destroyed by a drone operation in June 2021, attributed by Iran to the Mossad.
Reports of explosions at the Imam Khomeini International Airport in the Iranian capital were also received.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry alternated between denying the attacks and later slamming Israel for striking its military sites, while not giving details and not committing to whether Tehran would respond or not.
Israel also attacked targets in Syria, with the Syrian military confirming that the IDF had struck sites across central and southern Syria.
Explosions were also reported in Iraq. There were no planes flying over Syria or northern Iraq during the time of the suspected attack. Iran closed its airspace following the attack.