Israel’s airstrikes on military targets in Iran overnight Friday damaged the Islamic Regime’s missile program and air defenses, while demonstrating the Israeli Air Force’s advanced long-range capabilities. However, Iran’s nuclear program was left unscathed, suggesting that Israel’s government factored in U.S. pressure to keep the attack limited in nature.
The question going forward is whether the damage Iran’s missile and air defense infrastructure have paved the way for future strikes.Iranian state media has reported that targets were hit in three main regions: Tehran, Khuzestan (in southwest Iran) and Ilam (western Iran).
The attack, which Israel named “Operation Days of Repentance,” saw tens of IAF jets, accompanied by refuelers, travel some 1,600 kilometers from Israeli territory.
The IAF achieved near uncontested aerial supremacy in Iranian skies. (Read More)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called Sunday for Israel to effectively annex the West Bank and Gaza Strip, calling for the establishment of new settlements deep inside Palestinian areas and the departure of Arabs harboring nationalist aspirations.
The comments from the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party marked the latest instance of one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political allies urging the re-establishment of Israeli settlements inside the Gaza Strip while reversing the country’s 2005 withdrawal from the enclave.
Addressing the Middle East Summit, a conference in Jerusalem organized by Israel 365, an Israeli media outlet aimed at American evangelicals, Smotrich described repeated attempts to reach a two-state solution as wrongheaded, urging they be abandoned and replaced by an “unequivocal Israeli statement to the Arabs and the entire world that a Palestinian state will not be established.” (Read More)
The head of the Israel Defense Forces has said Israel restrained itself in its weekend attack on Iran, in comments published Sunday, as the country girds for a possible response from Tehran.
In a video released Sunday, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi was seen telling other officials that the hours-long bombardment of military sites across Iran early Saturday had struck “strategic systems.”
“We drew upon only some of our abilities,” Halevi said in the clip, part of a meeting in which top brass assessed the results of the assault, a retaliation for Iran’s massive Oct. 1 ballistic missile barrage on Israel. “We have the ability to do much more.”
“We hit strategic systems in Iran… and we will see how things develop now. We are ready for all scenarios on all fronts,” he added.
Israel has indicated it has no wish for further escalation, but that it could take more aggressive action if Iran once again launches an attack on its territory. It is widely reported to have considered hitting Iranian oil sites — key to the country’s struggling economy — but to have been dissuaded by the Biden administration from hitting such sensitive targets. (Read More)
The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday that Israel had “failed to achieve its ominous goals” with its Saturday strikes on Iranian military sites.
Hossein Salami, quoted by the Tasnim news agency, said the Israeli attack, which came in retaliation for Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile barrage on the country, was a sign of “miscalculation and helplessness” as Israel battles the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
“Its bitter consequences will be unimaginable” for Israel, Salami warned according to Tasnim.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei warned that Tehran will use “all available tools” to respond to Israel’s strikes.
Speaking at a weekly televised news conference, Baghaei said Iran would “use available tools to deliver a definite and effective response to the Zionist regime.”
The nature of Iran’s response depends on the nature of the Israeli attack, Baghaei added without elaborating.
Iran has attempted to downplay the retaliatory strike launched by Israel on Saturday, almost four weeks after the Islamic Republic’s barrage of some 200 ballistic missiles. The Israeli military said that the retaliatory attack had targeted strategic military sites — specifically, drone and ballistic missile manufacturing and launch sites, as well as air defense batteries.
Iranian state media also reported on Monday that a civilian security guard had been killed in the attacks, the fifth confirmed person to die. (Read More)
Shortly before Israel launched its retaliatory attack on Iran on Saturday, radar systems in the Iranian defense systems were breached, and the radar screens froze, KAN reported on Monday, citing Iranian sources.
Due to this possible breach, Iran's ability to intercept targets was limited and allowed theIsraeli air forceto penetrate Iranian airspace, Iranian sources were cited by the Israeli state broadcaster as saying.
Prior to launching the attack on Iran on Saturday, Israel conducted a preliminary strike on radar targets in Syria aimed at "blinding" Iran's capabilities.
This attack on Syrian radar targets allowed Israel to escalate into an offensive targeting Tehran and Karaj, Iran's capital and an additional strategic location
The Israeli operation, which involved over 100 aircraft traveling approximately 2,000 kilometers, likely began with initial waves attacking radar and air defense systems to clear the path for subsequent strikes on military bases. The earlier coordinated strike in Syria neutralized similar threats and prevented Iran from building situational awareness of Israel's offensive plan.
Iranian Supreme LeaderAli Khamenei, aged 85, is reportedly seriously ill, with his second oldest son, Mojtaba Khamenei, likely to succeed him when he dies, a SaturdayNew York Timesreport disclosed.
The report noted that Khamenei's serious medical condition created a "quiet battle" over his succession. It also stated that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps would have a say in who would become the Ayatollah's successor.
Concern grew over Khamenei's successor after former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash last May. (Read More)
The Israel Air Force struck a dozen targets in Iran that were used to produce solid fuel for long-range ballistic missiles as part of its retaliatory military action against the Islamic Republic, severely harming Tehran's ability to replenish its inventory, it was reported on Saturday night.
The targets struck were sophisticated equipment that Iran could not produce on its own and had to be purchased from China, Walla reported. The targets were a critical component of Iran's ballistic missile program, Walla cited three anonymous Israeli sources as saying.
An American researcher said an Israeli airstrike on Saturday hit a building that was part of Iran's defunct nuclear weapons development program, and he and another researcher said facilities used to mix solid fuel for missiles also were struck. (Read More)
Israeli officials aren’t speaking much about the airstrikes in Iran on early Saturday morning, but that doesn’t detract from the significance of the operation.
It seems to have gone off exactly as planned, with no losses on the Israeli side. That in and of itself is a major accomplishment.
The risks inherent in operations 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from Israeli airspace are daunting. A minor complication can turn into a life-and-death challenge.The strikes were planned with the assumption that the fighter jets would be able to refuel near Iran. But if a small component in the refuel system malfunctioned, or a plane’s engine failed, a pilot would face a dangerous landing in likely enemy territory. Almost all the support and emergency capabilities the Israeli Air Force can bring to bear in operations over Gaza and Lebanon would be irrelevant so far from the country’s border.
As far as we know, however, no significant malfunctions took place, a testament not only to the skill of Israel’s pilots but also to the professionalism of IAF maintenance and support personnel. (Read More)
Israel’s widespread airstrikes in Iran on Saturday crippled Iran’s ability to produce long-range ballistic missiles in a blow that will be hard and time-consuming to recover from, and rendered crucial energy facilities vulnerable to future attacks by destroying air defense batteries protecting them, according to multiple reports citing Israeli, American and Iranian officials, as well as satellite images analyzed by experts.
The strikes, which Israel’s Kan public broadcaster said reflected capabilities developed over two decades, indicated much greater freedom of operation for Israeli warplanes in striking Iran if the current conflict continues to escalate, as well as a setback in Tehran’s ability to continuously fire missiles at the Jewish state, which Jerusalem apparently hopes will serve as a deterrent against further attacks on the Jewish state.
The strikes targeted sites that reportedly include the secretive Parchin base near Tehran, which was used in the past for research and development of nuclear weapons, as well as a factory that manufactures drones. (Read More)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the Israeli Air Force struck Iranian missile targets early Saturday morning in a public address he gave at a state ceremony to mourn the fallen soldiers in Israel’s wars on its southern and northern borders in the last year.“In the early hours of Saturday morning” the IAF “hit areas in Iran, severely harming its defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that would be launched at us,” Netanyahu said at the ceremony in Mount Herzl.
“The attack on Iran was precise and powerful” and “achieved all its objectives,” he said. He thanked the United States for its close cooperation and assistance. The Biden administration has clarified that it was not involved in the attack, although it was given advance notice that it would take place. (Read More)
Earthquake warnings were mistakenly activated on Saturday morning across 284 communities in northern Israel and the West Bank due to an explosion at a Lebanese site containing a large amount of explosives.
The IDF confirmed the explosions as a result of IDF activities, saying, "Over the past few minutes, explosions were heard in northern Israel following IDF operational activity in southern Lebanon. There is no indication of a security incident." However, the system was misled this morning, possibly because the explosion occurred near one of its sensors. even the European international monitoring network recorded the explosion as seismic activity. (Read More)
According to a New York Times report, Israel's retaliatory strike against Iran was carried out under the cover of darkness early Saturday morning. According to some sources in Israel, more than a hundred fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles took off from Israel.
In order to prevent interceptions by Iranian allies, the source added, Israeli planes first attacked air defense batteries and radars in Syria and Iraq.
After clearing the path, Israeli planes flew in the direction of Iran, a distance of more than 1,600 km from Israel – and struck Iran's air defense systems.
According to two of the sources, another wave of attacks targeted facilities producing long-range missiles aiming to hit a critical component in their production process.
Israel refrained from striking energy infrastructure, such as oil and gas production facilities. However, the extent of the damage is still unclear.
Iranian officials stated that their air defense systems were able to minimize the damage, and said that Israel attacked military bases in three provinces – Tehran and two more near the border with Iraq, Ilam and Khuzestan.
During the course of the night, Israel attacked around 20 different sites.
Around 6 A.M. the IDF announced that the operation had ended.
Israel confirmed it had struck numerous military sites during its retaliatory strikes on Iran on Saturday in an operation later named "Days of Repentance."
The attack was declared over by 5:45 a.m., just as the sun began rising over Tehran, according to public broadcaster KAN11.
The attack occurred in three major waves, US and Israeli officials said. The second and third waves targeted Iranian drone and missile production sites, hitting over 20 targets, according to Axios and the New York Times.
Iran told AFP that it had not received any reports of injuries from the strikes.
The IDF later announced early Saturday morning that it had completed its reactive operation against Iran.
The IDF said that the strikes were conducted in response to the continuous attacks on the State of Israel and its citizens.
The IDF confirmed the operation was over and that all mission goals had been achieved, with all planes returning safely home. (Read More)
Israel’s preliminary strike on radar targets in Syria was aimed at “blinding” Iran’s capabilities, quickly escalating into an offensive targeting Tehran and Karaj, Iran’s capital and another strategic location.
The IDF confirmed the operation focused strictly on military targets, steering clear of nuclear and oil facilities to prevent wider conflict escalation. High alert remains as Israel anticipates potential retaliation, not only from Iran.
This large-scale assault involved over 100 aircraft, including F-35 “Adir” stealth fighters, traveling approximately 2,000 kilometers. According to foreign reports, strikes focused on Tehran and Karaj, with the IDF stating that each wave targeted military sites exclusively, mitigating further conflict risks. (Read More)
The IDF has announced that three soldiers from the 196th Battalion's Tank Commanders Course, 460th Brigade, have been killed in action in Gaza: (Read More)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped his whirlwind week in pursuit of diplomacy throughout the Middle East with meetings in London on Friday with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi.
Blinken and Al Nahyan discussed efforts to "end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all hostages" and continued discussions about the "post-conflict period," according to a statement from State Department Press Secretary Matthew Miller.
"On Lebanon, the Secretary underscored the importance of a diplomatic solution that fully implements United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. The Secretary thanked the Foreign Minister for the UAE’s continued provision of humanitarian aid for Lebanon and Gaza," the statement said. (Read More)
Two people were killed and seven injured on Friday after rockets fired by Hezbollah struck the northern Arab town of Majd al-Krum, as several barrages from Lebanon targeted the north.
Arjwan Manaa, 19, and Hassan Suad, 21, succumbed to critical wounds sustained when a rocket hit near a minimarket in the town. Manaa was working as a cashier and Suad was a customer who was there buying produce.
Television footage from the scene showed the blood-stained floor around the cash register and bags of fruit and vegetables still on the counter.(Read More)
UNRWA on Thursday confirmed that one of its staffers was killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza a day earlier, after Israel named him as a Hamas Nukbha force commander.
The IDF and Shin Bet said that Muhammad Abu Attawi, who led the killing and kidnapping of Israelis from a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7 last year, had been employed by UNRWA since July 2022 while serving as a Nukbha commander in Hamas’s Bureij Battalion.
According to UNRWA, Attawi’s name was included in a letter the Palestinian refugee agency received from Israel in July that included a list of 100 staff members who were also allegedly members of terror groups, including Hamas. (Read More)
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has asked the Iranian military to prepare response scenarios to a potential Israeli attack, according to a Thursday New York Times report, citing four Iranian officials.
Iran's response to an Israeli strike would be contingent on the extent of Israel's attack, the officials, two of whom were from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed.
According to them, the Islamic Republic may choose not to respond if Israel reduces the scope of its strike to solely military warehouses and bases.
However, were the strike to cause major casualties and destruction, or were Israel to attack nuclear, oil, or energy infrastructure or carry out targeted eliminations, Iran would hit back, the officials noted.
In such a case, Iran's response scenario could include a potential barrage of up to 1,000 ballistic missiles, further attacks by Iranian proxies, and interference in energy supplies and shipping in the Persian Gulf. (Read More)
PARIS — France pledged to provide a 100-million euro ($108-million) package to support Lebanon at an international conference Thursday, as President Emmanuel Macron said “massive aid” is needed to support the country where war between the Hezbollah terror group and Israel has displaced a million people and deepened an economic crisis.
“In the immediate term, massive aid is needed for the Lebanese population, both for the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the war and for the communities hosting them,” Macron said in his opening speech at the conference.
French organizers hope participants’ financial pledges of humanitarian aid will meet the $426 million the United Nations says is urgently needed. (Read More)
“We’ve spent more than 200 days in reserve duty,” the soldier shouts over the roar of the wind, turning around in the front passenger seat of the open-air IDF Humvee. The vehicle bumps and rattles its way over a broken road leading from northern Israel into southwestern Lebanon.
As dust streams in through the open sides, coating the soldiers and journalists within, the Humvee passes a wall marking the Blue Line separating the two countries, exposing a scene of utter devastation.
Burn pits next to the road give off an acrid smell made worse by numerous small fires among the rolling hills as the Humvee speeds along the road, swaying violently side to side.
“We’re now on our third mobilization of the year,” the soldier adds as he makes the short drive to the southern Lebanese village where his unit, the IDF’s 6th “Etzioni” Brigade, is involved in sweep and clear operations to uncover and destroy Hezbollah weapons caches and other infrastructure.
Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel a day after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on the country’s south, saying it was doing so in support of the Gaza-based terror group. (Read More)
An Israeli air strike has killed 13 members of one family in the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon.
A Lebanese security source said Israeli warplanes carried out an air strike on the town of Tefahta in Sidon district, targeting the home of a martyr who had been killed in an earlier strike.
The source said while mourners were paying their respect to the family when an Israeli warplane struck the location killing 13 members of the same family.
According to the source, this is the second massacre carried out by Israel in less than 48 hours in the same neighbourhood after an air strike killed four people two days ago.
He added that yesterday evening, Israeli warplanes launched a series of air strikes targeting the towns of Shebaa, Tebnine, Shaqra, Qabrikha and Al-Sawaneh and Al-Sawaneh in the south. (Read More)
THE SIDON PROPHECY (Ezekiel 28:20-26 NKJV)
"Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against her, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, Iamagainst you, O Sidon; I will be glorified in your midst; Andthey shall know that IamtheLord, When I execute judgments in her and amhallowed in her. For I will send pestilence upon her, And blood in her streets; The wounded shall be judged in her midst By the sword against her on every side; Then they shall know that IamtheLord. “And there shall no longer be a pricking brier ora painful thorn for the house of Israel from among allwho arearound them, whodespise them. Then they shall know that Iamthe LordGod.”
‘Thus says the Lord God: “When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. 26 And they will dwell [c]safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God.” ’ ” (WATCH Dr. Bill Salus teaching video below).
Israel has been forced to delay a potential retaliatory attack on Iran after details of the planning were leaked from the US, Britain’s The Times newspaperreportedThursday.
According to the report, citing an unnamed intelligence source with knowledge of Israeli deliberations, Israel is worried that even though no potential targets were named in the leak, the details provided could help Iran predict certain patterns of attack.
The Times said Israel has developed an alternative plan but needs to war-game it before proceeding.
“The leak of the American documents delayed the attack due to the need to change certain strategies and components,” the source said. “There will be a retaliation, but it has taken longer than it was supposed to take.”
Marked top secret, the documents first appeared online Friday on the Telegram messaging app and quickly spread among Telegram channels popular with Iranians.
On Tuesday, the FBI said that it was investigating the unauthorized release of the classified documents on Israel’s latest preparations for a potential retaliatory attack. Speaking to reporters in Rome, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said there were no indications any employees from the Office of the Secretary of Defense were being probed for the leak. (Read More)
Lebanon state media reported 17 Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, with six buildings leveled and the vacated offices of a Hezbollah-linked broadcaster hit on Wednesday, after the Lebanese terror group fired rockets at central Israel as the country began marking the Simhat Torah holiday.
AFPTV footage showed a massive explosion followed by smaller blasts in the southern suburbs following an Israeli army evacuation warning for the area, where Hezbollah holds sway.
The official National News Agency (NNA) reported at least 17 Israeli raids, marking one of the most intensive nights of strikes targeting the area in the past month. (Read More)
BEIRUT (AP) — Taking cover behind a large tree, an Associated Press photographer pointed his camera toward a Beirut apartment building the Israeli military warned was in its sights.
When a bomb plunged from the sky moments later, journalist and lens were perfectly positioned to document the trail of destruction — second by second, frame by frame.
“I heard the sound of the missile whistling, headed toward the building and then I started filming,” photographer Bilal Hussein said Tuesday, hours after Israeli forces launched the attack. The images Hussein captured of the projectile, frozen in mid-flight before obliterating the structure, provide a striking look at the speed, power and devastation of modern warfare.
The strike Tuesday came roughly 40 minutes after an Israeli military spokesperson posted a warning in Arabic on social media, notifying people in and around a pair of buildings on Beirut’s southern outskirts that that they should evacuate the area. (Read More)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French broadcasters on Wednesday that Israel had uncovered a plot by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to attack Israel via underground tunnels involving jeeps and missiles.
Netanyahu was quoted as having told French broadcasters CNews and Europe 1 that had the plan succeeded, the attack would have been more damaging than the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
"A hundred meters, two hundred meters from the border we found tunnels, tunnels that were preparing an invasion of Israel, an attack even greater than on October 7," Netanyahu said, according to a simultaneous translation provided by the networks.
"With jeeps, with motorbikes, with rockets, with missiles. They were planning an invasion," he added. (Read More)
