Israeli Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin told foreign air-force commanders on Thursday that Israel was the first country in the world to carry out military attacks with F-35 stealth fighter jets.
At a conference in Herzliya, Norkin showed commanders in attendance a photo of an Israeli F-35 jet circling over Beirut and revealed that Israel’s harsh response to an Iranian attack against Israel on May 10 came after the Iran fired 32 missiles at Israel from Syrian territory—more than the 20 missiles originally reported.
“We attacked twice in the Middle East with the F-35. We’re the first in the world to do so,” said Norkin.
Israel responded to the Iranian attack by decimating more than 50 Iranian military targets in Syria.
IDF Spokesman Ronen Manelis called the airstrikes “one of the greatest operations of the Israeli Air Force in the past decade.”
Norkin also praised Israel’s Arrow, Iron Dome and David’s Sling aerial-defense systems for their 85 percent success rate at intercepting foreign missile fire.
