Israel Launches Massive Airstrikes on Iran’s Leaders, Nuclear Sites, Refineries

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a massive and devastating set of preemptive airstrikes on Iran’s leaders, its military, its nuclear sites, and its refineries early Friday morning local time. In five waves, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out hundreds of missions across distances that were once thought to be too far for Israeli fighter jets to travel without refueling. The Iranians appeared to have been taken by surprise. And Iranian air defenses, which had already largely been destroyed last year in Israeli retaliations to Iranian missile attacks, appeared to be nonexistent or were damaged even further.

Iran’s so-called “Supreme Leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appeared to have survived, but senior leaders of Iran’s military did not, nor did key nuclear scientists. And Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz appeared to have been badly damaged, if not destroyed, in the attacks. The IDF issued a statement describing “Operation Rising Lion”: 

 
"A short while ago, following the directive of the political echelon, the IDF launched a preemptive, precise, combined offensive based on high-quality intelligence to strike Iran’s nuclear program, and in response to the Iranian regime’s ongoing aggression against Israel. A short while, dozens of IAF jets completed the first stage that included strikes on dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran.   (Read more)