Netanyahu: Israel ‘Caused Real Harm to Iran’s Ability to Manufacture Ballistic Missiles’

Photo Credit: Moshe Shai/FLASH90

Bombs to be loaded onto Israel Air Force fighter jet F-15, at the Tel Nof base, January 1, 2024.

The Israeli Air Force “detracted air defense batteries from Iran’s air defense capability and caused real harm to Iran’s ability to manufacture ballistic missiles” during its attack on the Islamic Republic last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared.

Addressing the Knesset’s plenum on Monday during a debate requested by 40 MKs, Netanyahu stated that Israel was “in a War of Revival, and Israel’s national revival is achieved through our sons and daughters who are laying down their lives for the eternity of Israel.”

“This war is a campaign that is primarily against one element—and that element is Iran, which has engraved our destruction on its banner,” Netanyahu explained.

In April, Iran fired 300 ballistic missiles at Israel, “the largest ballistic attack in history.” Israel responded by attacking Iranian military targets, but “this did not lead to Iran stopping its attacks against us,” the PM told the Knesset.

In its second attack in October, Iran fired 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, following which the IAF launched Operation Days of Repentance and “detracted air defense batteries from Iran’s air defense capability and caused real harm to Iran’s ability to manufacture ballistic missiles.”

According to multiple reports, the successful attack involved three main waves of around 140 fighter jets, aerial refueling aircraft, intelligence and electronics collection aircraft, and command and control aircraft.

In the first wave, the attack focused on Iranian air defense systems and radar installations. Four Russian S-300 air defense systems, which constitute the backbone of the Iranian air defense system, were destroyed, as were locally produced defense systems. A radar installation was also attacked in the Sweida area of southern Syria, and radar systems were also attacked in Iraq.

In the second and third waves, the attacks were expanded to include three large missile production bases, drone development and production facilities, and ballistic missile launch sites belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The targets also included Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, which also serves as a military base, and the Shahroud Space Center.

There were also reports of damage to a power plant in the city of Karaj and damage to the city of Shiraz in the south of the country.

In addition to the attacks on Iran, the IAF attacked Syria and reportedly destroyed Syria’s entire air defense system.

An explosion at the Parchin complex near Tehran on June 26, 2020. / Tasnim News Agency

In addition, it was reported that a strike, apparently by drones, was carried out on the secret base in Parchin, located about 30 kilometers from Tehran. The base was previously used for research and development of nuclear weapons.

Furthermore, 12 planetary mixers, used to produce solid fuel for ballistic missiles, were destroyed in the second and third waves, causing strategic damage to the ballistic missile production capacity and delaying their production by two years, thus paralyzing Iran’s ability to replenish its missile stockpile.

“Iran has one option left, of arming itself with a nuclear weapon, and it is striving to achieve this,” Netanyahu warned, saying that “a nuclear Iran in the Middle East is a huge threat to the Middle East and world peace. We will be tested by our ability to thwart the nuclear program. The test rests upon us—on the Government of Israel and our friend, the United States. The achievements in the war are great, but the challenges are still also very great.”

With the decimation of Iran’s air defense system, an Israeli-US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities becomes more probable, possibly after President-elect Donald Trump enters office.