According to the report, the White House Situation Room monitors showed more and more ballistic missiles being launched at Israel, rising from 30 to over 100, even as about 170 attack UAVs and dozens of cruise missiles had already been fired.
The President's team was shocked at the magnitude of the assault, and could not be sure that Israel's aerial defense systems would be up to the challenge, as no system had ever faced such a test before.
“The results of the defenses were unclear until all was said and done," a senior administration official said.
About 350 drones and missiles were launched at Israel that Saturday night, marking the first direct attack on Israel by Iran after decades of proxy attacks on the Jewish State and Jewish targets around the world.
Originally, US officials believed that Iran would target Israeli diplomatic sites such as embassies or other soft targets. But as new intelligence came in, it was determined that Iran was planning a direct strike on Israel.
Even so, they were taken aback by the full extent of the attack. “This was on the high end, I think, of what we were—what we were anticipating," an official said.
Israel, together with assistance from the US, Britain, France, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, was able to intercept nearly all of the projectiles fired at it, with a handful of ballistic missiles causing minor damage to an air force base in the south. The only casualty was a seven-year-old Bedouin girl who was seriously wounded by shrapnel from a missile.
Israel retaliated for the Iranian attack with a smaller strike on an Iranian military base in Isfahan on Thursday night. Satellite images showed damage caused to the base.
