Israel Attacks Iran
And Palestine and Lebanon and Syria
Published: 2024-10-26
Updated 2024-10-27: Introduction added, along with Brian Berletic’s analysis [video].
Updated 2024-10-28: Added Antiwar’s article to references and further analysis to ‘Scope and Scale’.
Note: a follow up article provides analysis of the attack.
Update: Scope and Scale
Iran's PressTV reported that 4 soliders were martyred by "projectiles of the criminal Zionist regime".
The strikes targeted parts of military sites in the capital Tehran as well as the western and southwestern provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan, with Iran’s air defense saying the attacks were “successfully intercepted and countered.”
The attacks caused “limited damage” in some locations and the dimensions of the incident are under investigation.
PressTV has published a 1 minute 18 second fixed camera video of the skies over Tehran displaying the Iranian missile defense system in action. The report includes a second video from social media which has often been republished.
The targets of Israel’s attack obviously included Iranian military, and likely missile defence installations. Antiwar informs us that “the Iranian military confirmed that some radar systems were damaged” while “The New York Times and other Western media outlets” to reported that Israel “destroyed several air defense systems”. There are no reports of damage to oil production systems.
Israel constantly issues false information. Its claims should be ignored. Iran will wish to limit knowledge of damage to sensitive infrastructure. To evaluate the “success” of the operation one must know both the intended outcome and the weapons systems used, knowledge limited to Israel. Iran knows what it was attacked with and where.
A full assessment of damage will take time to learn. For now, the targets Israel chose do appear to have conformed to restrictions imposed by the US, as Israel excluded nuclear material and petrochemical processing systems. The targets seem to have been purely military. This stands in stark contrast to Israel’s constant targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure (hospitals, schools, residential buildings etc.) in Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria.
That which can be seen in the skies over Tehran provides a window into the munitions used and Iran’s defense capabilities. The volume and horizontal trajectory of the armaments being destroyed by defence missiles over Tehran indicates drones rather than missiles. If and when imagery becomes available of Israel’s attacks on the border regions of Iran, where one would expect defense radars to be located, one would expect to see missiles there.
Just as Iran used its drone flood in April to learn of the locations and capability of Israel’s missile defense systems, so by Israel with its drone flock over Tehran. It was an intelligence gathering mission.
Israel’s attacks on the defense installations in the border regions were intended to both gather intelligence and destroy.
The Iranian soldiers martyred by Israel were (left to right): Major Sajjad Mansouri , Sergeant Mohammad-Mehdi Shahrokhifar, Sergeant Mehdi Naghavi and Major Hamzeh Jahandideh.
Early Report
Within just under 4 hours [from 23:35 GMT on 2024-10-25 to 03:30 GMT on 2024-10-26] Israel announced an attack on Iran and then announced its end. During the period it closed its airspace and forced the closure of at least those of Iraq and Iran. Defensive missile responses were triggered in both Syria and Iran.
Israel continued its genocide in Gaza with an attack not on but inside a hospital. Israel also continued its evening bombings of Beirut, Lebanon, targeting residential buildings.
In Tehran, local reports and imagery, after Israel announced the end of its attacks, showed the capital calm and quiet. Earlier explosions had been air defense systems responding to Israel drone attacks, according to official sources. No casualties were reported at that time. Iran’s military also stated that no attacks had been made against its facilities in western or southwestern Iran, the regions closer to Israel.
The extent of any "successful" attacks by Israel will be released by Iran if and when it wishes.
Reuters summarized the Israeli attacks with:
Iran said its air defence system successfully countered Israel's attacks on military targets in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam with "limited damage" to some locations.
Russia’s government news agency, TASS, has issued a summary report of the attack from regional sources.
Early analysis
What appears to have occurred is that Israel launched an attack which was insignificant in comparison to that which it had been threatening and exercising (as confirmed by the recent US Intel leaks).
Why Israel's response was so ineffective, as it currently appears, will be a topic of discussion in media over the coming days. Key factors in those discussions may include:
The US military forced Israel's limited response via warnings that it would not receive the support its political leadership may have been expecting. The US Intel leaks may have been a stark escalation of that warning
Israel is not limitless. Its volunteer military are impacted by a year of running a genocide and its recent invasion of Lebanon. That campaign's stated objective, to return citizens to the north, are nowhere in sight.
The brazen attack on Iran, though so limited, was to achieve local political effect only. The results of it, to be seen in the coming days of weeks, may well nullify any temporary political effect. Responses to the attack may well come more from regional militia forces (the "Axis of Resistance") than from Iran.
Russian supplied air defense and electronic warfar capabilities may have significantly defeated Israeli missiles, if they were used in the attack. Larry Johnson has already proposed this potential explanation for a lack of damage.
Summary of Al Jazeera's "Live" coverage
October 25, 2024
20:15 GMT
“The occupation forces are searching the hospital and shooting inside the various departments, increasing the state of panic and anxiety,” stated the Health Ministry in Gaza.
Israel is not attacking a hospital, but attacking inside a hospital.
20:30 GMT
Around 20:00 GMT (7pm local time) Israel dropped more "forced evacuation orders" before resuming attacks on the capital of Lebanon, Beirut, as they had for many preceding days. Al Jazeera cited social media videos showing "the impact of what we understand to be missiles that directly targeted [majority residential] buildings"
23:10 GMT
Iran's Fars news agency reported explosions could be heard in Tehran, the capital of Iran.
23:20 GMT
Syrian state media, SANA, reported the "Syrian air defenses [were] continuing to intercept hostile targets".
23:35 GMT
Israeli military confirmed that it was attacking Iran:
"The [Israeli military] is currently attacking with precision military targets in Iran ..."
00:00 GMT
US National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said:
"We understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defence ..."
This, of course, is horse shit. Iran stated after its retaliation on Oct 1st, 2024, that it considered the matter closed.
26th October, 2024, GMT
00:03 GMT
"A Tehran resident has told The Associated Press news agency that at least seven explosions could be heard around the Iranian capital, which rattled the surrounding area."
00:25 GMT
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued its narrative operations by stating that Israel:
"will do whatever is necessary to defend its state and people”
Which is also utter horseshit, because it has just escalated its attacks against Iran by attacking its capital.
00:27 GMT
Israel Hayom newspaper reports that Netanyahu and Gallant are hiding in a bunker as opposed to the late leader of Hamas, Yayah Sinwa, who was fighting to defend his people from these state forces instructed by these to cowards to conduct a genocide on Palestinians in Gaza. That genocide is continuing as evidenced by the reports of attacks inside a hospital 4 hours and 12 minutes earlier.
Israel is concurrently attacking Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iran while claiming that it is "defending its state and people". The world understands this lie. Israel is exerting all possible force to trap the United States of America into the regional war it just escalated.
00:45 GMT
Israeli media confirm that the prepared offensive operation awaited approval from Netanyahu and Gallant. They ordered it and bear responsibility for it.
00:55 GMT
Israel’s News 12 channel reports that the “second wave” of Israel’s attack on Iran has started, citing explosions in Iran’s south-central Shiraz city.
01:20 GMT
Al Jazeera received a report from associate professor Foad Izadi of Tehran University:
“It’s about four in the morning in Tehran, and we don’t see anything happening outside, or any activities or movements,” he said.
“So the city is functioning as normal, and if we had any attacks, I think they weren’t that big.”
01:38 GMT
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that air defence sirens could be heard in central Tehran.
01:45 GMT
Both Iran and Israel closed their airspaces.
01:55 GMT
Iraq closes its airspace.
Earlier, Lebanese news outlet Al Mayadeen said its correspondent in Iraq reported explosions on the outskirts of Diyala and Salah Al-Din governorates.
02:05 GMT
Tasnim (Iranian news agency) reported that a [government] source stated that Israel would “receive a proportionate response to any action”.
02:10 GMT
Iranian officials state that the explosions heard in Tehran are its air-defence operations. The attacks are drones. There are no casualties to report. No military targets have been hit.
02:30 GMT
‘The state-run IRNA news agency has said Iranian air defenses have “successfully shot down adversarial targets in the airspace around Tehran province”.
Footage shared online captured what appeared to be interceptions over the Iranian capital.’
02:40 GMT
Doron Kadosh, a reporter with Israel’s Army Radio, has cited an unnamed source who said the Israeli attacks “are expected to continue for several more hours”.
03:15 GMT : End of Iran Attacks (claim)
The Israeli military’s attacks on Iran ended at about 5am local time (02:30 GMT), after hitting roughly 20 sites over the course of several hours, two Israeli officials have told The New York Times on condition of anonymity.
03:25 GMT
Israel's attacks on Gaza and Lebanon continue.
03:30 GMT : End of Iran Attacks (official)
Israel’s military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said:
“We carried out targeted and precise attacks against military targets in Iran ...".
Those attacks are "completed".
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Sources
Death toll from Israeli aggression on Iran rises to four, Press TV, 2024-10-267
📽️ Iran's air defense 'successfully intercepts, counters' Israeli aggression, PressTV, 2024-10-26
Iran Says Israel's Attack Killed Four Iranian Soldiers, Damaged Radar Systems, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar, 2024-10-27
Updates: Israel attacks Iran, warns Tehran against retaliation, Alastair Mccready, Maziar Motamedi, Umut Uras, Virginia Pietromarchi, Alastair McCready, Jillian Kestler-D'Amours & Alma Milisic, Al Jazeera, 2024-10-25 (and into the 26th)
Israel strikes Iran military targets, Tehran says damage 'limited', Parisa Hafezi and Emily Rose, Reuters, 2024-10-26
IN BRIEF: What is known about Israeli strikes on Iran, TASS, 2024-10-26
Israel strikes Iran: What we know so far and what’s next, Al Jazeera, 2024-10-26
Iran says four soldiers killed, radar systems hit in Israeli strikes, Al Jazeera, 2024-10-26
I Have Video Evidence that Iran Stymied Israel's Attack, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, 2024-10-25
Lying Western Press Scramble To Frame Israel's Attack On Iran As Self-Defense, Caitlin Johnston, Caitlin's Newsletter, 2024-10-26
Usrael Intel Leaks, YesXorNo, 2024-10-22
Israel v Iran: Zionist Strategic and Operational Failure, YesXorNo, 2024-10-29
Larry C. Johnson & Andrei Martyanov： Israel Attacks Iran! [rnQb3jd75bY], Alkhorshid interviews Johnson & Martyanov, Dialogue Works, 2024-10-26
Israel Launches Limited Strikes on Iran [CbFdlDbfqpI], Brian Berletic, The New Atlas, 2024-10-26
📽️ Lying Zionists Show Fake Footage of Underwhelming Attack on Iran, Kevin Barrett, Kevin's Newsletter / PressTV, 2024-10-27
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