Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, commander of the Israeli Air Force, few a sortie over Iran overnight Friday. Bar, 56, piloted an F-15 air superiority fighter, reports added.
According to Maariv, the mission that included Bar involved strikes on regime targets.
During “Operation Rising Lion” in June, Maj. Gen. Aviad Dagan, commander of the IDF Computer Service Directorate, participated in an unspecified number of airstrikes on Iran, the report added. He began his military service as a combat navigator in the Air Force.
Apparently, he was the most senior IDF officer to have flown an aircraft over Iran until last night.
On Friday, Bar visited the Tel Nof Airbase south of Rehovot, spoke with Air Force technicians and emphasized their decisive contribution to “Operation Roaring Lion,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.
The general was cited telling the soldiers that “there is no air force in the world that could have delivered what you delivered” in the first 72 hours of the operation.
ׅ“It’s impressive by any standard. What happened here was a race against the clock, to lay down a sort of ‘carpet’ and suppress all the surface-to-surface missiles, which at any moment could have been launched toward the State of Israel,” he continued.
“You saw it yourselves—there were missile barrages here. It wasn’t zero. But the offensive posture we established in a very aggressive way saved many lives. Every aircraft you prepared, every malfunction you fixed, essentially created the core of the operational trick,” the commander said.
“We will not stop. I see the determination in your eyes, and I am very, very proud,” Bar said.
“To sit there knowing that you’re flying on a war machine that you prepared, and that you make sure everything works and can be relied upon—and that we will also return safely—that is a supreme feeling, a genuine feeling of pride,” he said.
