Israel Air Force launches largest sortie in history, over 200 planes struck 500 targets in Iran

The IDF announced on Saturday evening that the Israel Air Force carried out the largest aerial operation in its history, striking over 500 targets in Iran in the first hours of Operation Roaring Lion. 

“Since the morning, about 200 fighter jets under the guidance of the Military Intelligence and the Air Force have completed a large-scale blow against the Iranian terror regime's missile system and defense systems in western and central Iran,” the military said in a statement. 

“This is the largest strike mission in the history of the Israeli Air Force, carried out after close planning with high-quality intelligence, while synchronizing hundreds of aircraft simultaneously,” the IDF continued. 

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) simultaneously dropped hundreds of munitions on approximately 500 targets throughout Iran, including air defense systems and missile launchers. The attacks on the air defense systems made it possible to establish air superiority over Iranian territory, while severely damaging the regime's main offensive capability – its ballistic missile launchers in western Iran. 

One of the strikes hit a military position in the Tabriz area of western Iran, targeting a ballistic missile unit that, according to the Israeli military, had planned to fire dozens of missiles toward Israel’s territory.

During the 12-day Israel-Iran War, Israel destroyed many of the ballistic missile launchers in western Iran. According to Israeli reports, Israel intelligence believe the regime was attempting to rehabilitate some of those launch sites, in preparation for another confrontation with Israel.

It is estimated that Iran still maintains several ballistic missile launch facilities in the east, some of which support newer solid-propellant missiles that can be readied more quickly than the older liquid-fuel systems that make up a large portion of Tehran’s arsenal.

Reports in Hebrew media said Military Intelligence had developed an extensive target list that included senior leaders, as well as Iranian military and IRGC commanders, with the aim of carrying out a “decapitation strike.”

According to those reports, intelligence officials also waited for a moment when senior Iranian military figures were gathered together, seeking to replicate the crippling strike on military leadership at the outset of Operation Rising Lion last June.

The Israeli Air Force’s current priority is reportedly to diminish Iran’s capacity to threaten Israel with ballistic missiles before shifting focus to other targets identified in the broader operation

Iranian media reported that approximately 200 people have been killed in the Israeli strikes, though the authorities have not specified how many of the casualties were leaders or military personnel.