The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday announced that its 12-day military operation against Iran resulted in significant damage to three of the country’s main nuclear facilities, Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, dealing a major blow to the Iranian regime’s nuclear infrastructure.
The IDF asserted that Israel launched ‘Operation Rising Lion’ on June 13 with the intention of damaging the Iranian nuclear and missile projects following the identification of progress in the three programs, whose ultimate goal was to “destroy the State of Israel”.
According to the Israeli military, to thwart the program’s future, 11 senior nuclear scientists who were central to the Iranian weapons group were eliminated, and the inactive nuclear reactor at Arak was also attacked to prevent its future use.
The IDF noted that throughout the operation, it achieved complete freedom of aerial action in the heart of Iran and fully met the objectives defined for the operation.
Furthermore, the Israeli military mentioned that to create air superiority in Iranian skies, “the Israeli Air Force carried out 1,500 sorties and about 600 refuelings were made en route to Iran.”
“In the entire operation, 1,400 strikes were carried out by the fighter formation and 500 by the UAV formation, and the furthest of them was carried out at Mashhad airport, about 2,400 km from Israel, by a fighter jet. In addition, hundreds of interceptions of anti-aircraft missiles and drones were carried out. In total, 99 percent of the drones launched from Iran were intercepted,” said the IDF.
The Israeli military noted that during the 12-day operation, the Home Front Command, rescue and recovery forces operated in more than 170 locations across the country.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel has accepted a ceasefire proposal with Iran, marking the end of 12 days of intense hostilities between the two regional rivals.
In an official statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu declared that Israel had met all strategic goals of its military campaign, dubbed Operation Rising Lion, and even exceeded expectations.
“Israel had achieved all the objectives of Operation Rising Lion, and even far beyond that. Israel has removed a dual immediate existential threat – both in the nuclear domain and in the ballistic missile domain,” the statement read.
(IANS)
