‘The attack was designed to be big enough to send a message, but small enough not to warrant an escalation,’ said sources from Israel.
New Delhi: Israel carried out precise, and controlled, airstrikes on Iran’s military installations on the intervening night of 25-26 October, during Sabbath, the day of rest for the Jewish people. The message was clear—that it was capable of carrying out such strikes even 2,000 kilometres away, with over 100 aircraft, and return home safely, without a single jet lost. Equally importantly, the attacks were carried out 500-600 km deep inside Iranian territory, without any resistance faced by the multitude of Israeli fighter planes criss crossing Iran’s skies. It was more than apparent to the world that Iran with its rickety air force of 1970s vintage and crumbling radar and air defence systems—which the Israelis took out in the first wave of the attack—just didn’t have the wherewithal to intercept any Israeli attack; that it was a sitting duck if Israel ever decided to escalate the conflict. Such was the pathetic state of affairs, that visuals on social media site X claimed to show Iran’s military using even anti-aircraft guns to target the Israeli fighter jets. The S-300 missile defence system, which Iran had taken delivery of from Russia in 2016, was not capable of intercepting the attack and sources say that the Israeli jets were able to down a few. The Iranians claimed that their missile defence system was able to repel the Israeli attack, which is an absurd claim, since the S-300s miserably failed to stop the Israelis flying all over Iran’s skies.
In the crosshairs of the Israeli attack, led by fighters that included the F-35 “Adir”—and backed by refuellers—were Iran’s military sites, with the focus being on air defence systems, as well as the manufacturing and launch sites of drones and ballistic missiles. It was from these sites that Iran had launched the drone and missile attacks on Israel on 1 October, by firing around 180 missiles, some of which hit military targets, but without causing much damage. As it was reported by this newspaper on October 6 (‘Israel’s attack on Iran imminent’), Israel’s retaliation would be primarily on military targets, and even though Iran’s nuclear installations, economic interests including the energy sector, and Iran’s symbols of government were on its radar, there was opposition from the United States on extending the attack to the latter targets. In fact, sources in Tel Aviv say that Israel chose Saturday’s targets on US request, as Washington, D.C. did not want matters escalated less than two weeks ahead of the US presidential election.
Unsurprisingly, the US put its stamp of approval on the Israeli strike by stating that “Israel’s precise strikes on Iranian military targets align with its right to self-defense and respond to the Iranian missile attack on October 1.”
Sources in Tel Aviv say that post the Iran-backed Hezbollah drone attack on Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea, there was some discussion in the Israeli establishment about targeting Iran’s parliament, high court and other symbols of government but eventually these targets were left untouched.
Israeli jets carried out the attacks in waves, targeting areas in and around Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan and Shiraz, in an operation called “Days of Repentance”, named after Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, which is a time for atonement and repentance.
According to reports in the Israeli and other media, the strikes targeted three Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) missile bases, as well as one S-300 defence system at Imam Khomeini International Airport near Tehran, among others. Drones also attacked Iran’s Parchin military base near Tehran. Israeli media also claimed that Israel, through third parties, had warned Iran ahead of the attack that they would strike its military bases and that any further retaliation would make things go out of hand.
SENDING A MESSAGE
“The attack was designed to be big enough to send a message, but small enough not to warrant an escalation,” said a source from Israel.
All eyes are now on Iran, which has vowed revenge. Sources in Israel say that there is no parity between the two military forces. Israel has a modern Air Force and a fully developed UAV system, which is precise and capable of delivering missiles. While Iran has a handful of 1970s era fighter planes and its UAV system is also rather primitive. Sources add that more than Iran’s missiles and drones that generally fail to hit their targets and operate on the “hit or miss” principle, the worry is about Iran mobilising its terrorist proxies against Israel—and there are several, including the Houthis. “Whether the limited strike has been able to deter them or not, it is all up to them,” said the source from Israel. “There were limitations on us (imposed by the US) this time on what we can or cannot do, because of the US Presidential election. Iran should not ignore that after the US election those limitations would be gone.”
Any retaliation by Iran, and Israel is determined to go all-out against Tehran. Saturday’s airstrikes were a mere warning.