Israel struck locations with direct links to last weekend’s attack by Iran.
Israel struck Iran early Friday morning, US officials have confirmed.
Experts have described the strike as small and well-defined, especially compared to Iran’s attack on Israel last weekend.
What kind of damage did the Israeli attack cause?
has not been able to confirm information about the possible damages caused by the attacks.
Several media outlets and social media accounts reported the sounds of explosions around the million cities of Isfahan and Tabriz.
Isfahan is located in the central part of Iran, while Tabriz is located in the mountains quite close to the Turkish border.
According to Iranian state media, the sounds of the explosions were caused by Iran’s own air defense.
The Financial Times newspaper according to the interviewed EU official, the Israeli attacks “did not cause human casualties or major damage”.
According to the official, it was, considering all options, very little Israeli activity.
According to Iran, the strikes did not cause any damage. Israel, on the other hand, has been silent about the results of the attack.
Why Tabriz and Isfahan?
On the map below you can see Tabriz’s significant military sites.
Israel could have chosen to target places that have a direct connection to Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel a week ago.
This is the assessment of an analyst specializing in national defense, a professor Michael Clarke on Sky News.
There are several ballistic missile launch pads in the city of Tabriz. Such missiles were used by Iran in its attack on Israel a week ago. The city also has missile depots, an air base and other military sites
Isfahan, on the other hand, is an important industrial city. The planes that Iran used in its attack on Israel are made there. At the same time, it is the center of research related to Iran’s nuclear program.
Therefore, striking the city could be Israel’s message that it can strike Iran’s strategic targets if it wants to.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran’s nuclear power plants were not damaged in the attack.
You can read more about the meaning of Isfahan in this story.
What kind of weapons did Israel use?
Israel attacked Iran at least with drones. Israel has at its disposal a few types of aircraft whose range is sufficient for attacking Iranian territory.
It is possible that the drones were armed with short-range missiles or laser-guided bombs. For example, the United States also referred to a missile strike earlier on Friday.
Today’s strike by Israel is in any case small compared to Iran’s strike on Israel last weekend. Iran attacked Israel with more than 300 drones and missiles.
Estimates of the number of drones used in today’s attack vary from a few to about ten.
Where did Israel strike?
According to Iranian authorities, the attack was carried out from Iranian territory. This does not necessarily mean that the attacks were carried out from Iranian soil. Possibly, the drones first flew into Iranian territory and launched their weapon systems there.
If Israel had used ballistic missiles launched from its own territory, their launch would have been detected, for example, by US surveillance satellites. In this case, the damage would have been considerable.
For example, the Jericho II ballistic missile carrying from Israel to Iran has a thousand kilograms of explosives in its warhead.