The Israeli Air Force “paved the way to Tehran” and is hitting the Islamic regime on a scale “beyond what the enemy had anticipated,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Sunday.
“The offensive operations we are conducting in Iran are reshaping the strategic reality of the State of Israel,” he said during a visit to the IAF’s underground command center, speaking alongside top commanders.
The operation against Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at “removing an existential threat and reinforcing our security,” the general stressed.
“We will continue to act with determination, strength, responsibility and in full cooperation with all security branches—until all our objectives are achieved,” Zamir said, while urging Israelis to continue to obey Home Front Command rules amid renewed Iranian missile attacks.
“The defense and home front effort is critical,” Zamir said. “A strong home front gives us the strength to carry on with our mission.”
The IDF on Sunday morning said that overnight strikes in Iran targeted missile launchers, including those that were firing at Israel. In addition, surface-to-air missile infrastructure and detection radars were attacked.
Furthermore, on Sunday morning, the IAF completed a series of strikes on storage sites and missile launch infrastructure sites in western Iran.
The Air Force continues its operations to achieve aerial superiority throughout the Islamic Republic, the IDF said on Sunday evening.
“At a distance of some 2,300 kilometers [1,430 miles], the Air Force recently struck an Iranian refueling aircraft at Mashhad Airport in eastern Iran,” the IDF said. “This is the most distant strike since the beginning of the operation.”
The Israel Defense Forces first announced on Saturday that it had “established aerial superiority from western Iran to Tehran,” which allows IAF aircraft to operate freely across a wide swath of territory.
Early on Friday, more than 200 Israeli fighter jets attacked dozens of enemy targets, including military and nuclear sites, in a “preemptive, precise, combined offensive” against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
The IDF said the attack was based on “high-quality intelligence” and came “in response to the Iranian regime’s ongoing aggression against Israel.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation, dubbed “Rising Lion,” would “continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” vowing to stop “the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.”
