Alwaght- After 12 days of expectation of Tehran's retaliation for Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus April 1, finally, the Iranian drones and missiles in the early hours of Sunday flooded the skies of the occupied territories.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched Operation True Promise as a realization of a promise by Supreme Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei to "punish the aggressor" as the attack on the consulate was considered an attack on Iran's territorial sovereignty.
Before the official announcement of the start of missile and drone operations by the IRGC, the Israeli security officials announced the start of the operation, and Daniel Hagari, the spokesman of the regime's army, said that Iran fired dozens of drones towards Israel, which were seen in the sky of Iraq and they will arrive in Israel soon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the Iranian drone attacks and said to the Israelis, "we were attacked."
The Israeli media also confirmed the mass launch of Iranian drones towards the occupied territories, and pictures and videos were published by the people of the region on social networks showing that the skies of Iraq, Syria and Jordan are flooded with Iranian missiles and drones on their way to Israel.
Since the very beginning of operation, resistance hacksrs moved to disrupt the Israeli air defense systems. Israeli media reported hacking into some radar systems by a group dubbed Handhalah.
Minutes after the start of the operation, the Revolutionary Guards announced in an statement: "In response to the numerous crimes of the Zionist regime, including the attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus and the martyrdom of a group of commanders and military advisers of our country in Syria, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Aerospace Force, attacked certain targets in occupied territories by firing dozens of missiles and drones."
Most of the drones were seen in the provinces of Meysam, Basra, Nasiriyah, Sulaymaniyah and even Anbar province in the westernmost part of Iraq and bordering with Jordan, and after traveling a long distance they reached the occupied territories.
The second wave of attacks was carried out from Iran on Sunday morning by firing dozens of cruise and ballistic missiles. These missiles were launched from Tabriz, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Shiraz, Urmia and Arak provinces across Iran towards Israeli regime, and according to American officials, they included a total of 200 missiles. Missiles traveled through the skies of Iraq and Syria, with footages circulating online showed public cheering and happiness whole seeing them traveling in the sky.
In this multi-faceted and combined operation, hundreds of cruise and ballistic drones and missiles were used, which was unprecedented in its kind. The New York Times quoted Israeli officials as saying that Iran fired 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles and 110 surface-to-surface missiles at Israel. Although the details of the weapons used in this operation have not been announced by the IRGC, domestic media reported that Fattah, Khyber, Sejil, Imad, and Qadr hypersonic missiles and other types of missiles were used in this attack.
An informed official in the Iranian Armed Forces said that the operation designed tiered and each stage is harsher given the circumstances.
With the arrival of Iranian drones and missiles in the skies of the occupied territories, the alarm sounded for the first time because of an Iranian attack throughout this region and the Israelis spent hours in shelters out of fear.
Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, as well as the Israeli regime itself, closed their airspace for hours.
Which areas were targeted?
Although the Israeli authorities claimed that with the help of their allies, they managed to intercept and destroy many Iranian missiles and drones, Al-Mayadeen news network, by publishing videos of the explosion site of the Iranian ballistic missiles, reported that despite the severe news censorship in Israel, the missiles hit the designated targets.
From its missile and drone response in Israel, Iran was pursuing several goals, including hitting the Nevatim, an air base in the Negev Desert near the city of Beersheba, which has a 3400-meter runway and is the hangar and main base of the F-35 fighter jets.
This base is about 1,100 kilometers away from the western borders of Iran, and the pictures published on the media show that heavy damages have been caused to this base by missile strikes. This was the same base from which the Israeli fighters were said to have taken off to target the Iranian consulate.
Also, the Palestinian Shahab news agency reported that Iranian missiles hit Ramon military base in Negev. It is said that seven Iranian missiles hit this air base. It was reported that this base is protected by American Patriot anti-missile systems, but it seems that this defense system failed in intercepting Iranian missiles.
Israeli citizens have also published videos of Iranian missiles and drones hitting areas in the occupied territories, which shows that, contrary to the claims of the regime's officials, the objectives of the missile operation have been achieved.
10 countries, including England, the US and France, came to help the Israeli from the very beginning to intercept Iranian projectiles, nevertheless, many of the missiles hit their target and the Iron Dome system proved unsuccessful in interception of the missiles, and according to Iranian security officials, the missiles hit their targets.
Iranian officials' warnings
Although Tel Aviv officials have said that they will respond sharply to Iran's operations, senior officials of the Islamic Republic warned the occupation leaders to stop adventuring in order to avoid further tensions in the region.
Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations said: "Iran's military response was based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter regarding legitimate defense in response to the aggression of the Zionist regime on our diplomatic facilities in Damascus. The matter can be considered concluded. However, if the Israeli regime makes another mistake, Iran's response will be significantly more severe. This is a conflict between Iran and the rebellious Israeli regime, which the United States should stay away from."
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the United Nations in its statement of the end of the IRGC operation and said that the targeting of military sites in Israel was done in line with legitimate self-defense, and from the point of view of the Islamic Republic, everything is over, but if the Israeli regime continues its adventure, Iran will respond strongly."
Major General Ali Bagheri, the Chief of the General Staff of Iranian Armed Forces, said Operation True 's Promise with the codename of Ya Rasoolullah (O, the Messenger of God) was completed with full success and all its goals were achieved. The reason for this operation was that the Zionist regime crossed the red lines for which was not tolerable for us. For us, it is a red line that the Zionist regime targets our embassy's consular section and assassinate our legitimate military advisors who are legally in Syria at the official invitation of the Syrian government to fight terrorism."
General Bagheri added:" We see this operation as complete, and this operation has ended in accordance with our opinion, and there is no intention to continue this operation, but if the Zionist regime takes action against the Islamic Republic of Iran, either on our soil or on its centers in Syria or elsewhere, our next operation will be much bigger than this operation."
In response to a question about what Iran's response would be if the American government wanted to cooperate with the Israeli regime against Iran, the general maintained:" We conveyed this message to the United States through the Swiss Embassy that if the United States participates in next moves by the Zionist regime using its bases and facilities in the region and we make sure about this, the [American] bases, servicemembers, and facilities will not be immune, and we will regard it as an aggressor and will deal with it."
Also, IRGC commander Major General Hossein Salami stated in a televised interview about the harsh reaction of the Islamic Republic to the crimes of the Zionist regime: "We have decided to create a new equation that from now on, if the Zionist regime attacks our interests, figures, citizens, and assets, we will counterattack it from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Operation True Promise is a prominent and very clear example of this new equation."
Major General Salami added that the Israeli regime should stop its past behavior and learn lessons [from this attack]."If it makes a move, our response will be way harder given the new experience we have gained."
Multi-faceted operation
In the extensive operation against the occupied territories, Iran was not alone, and other branches of the Axis of Resistance also participated. At the same time as the Iranian drones were launched, Lebanese Hezbollah targeted areas in the Galilee and the Golan Heights with dozens of missiles and drones. Hezbollah confirmed that it attacked the Iron Dome system with kamikaze drones.
Additionally, according to a maritime security company, Yemen's Ansarullah started launching drones at the occupied territories at the same time as the drones flew from Iran. In their solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, Ansarullah intensified their operations against the Zionist regime and its allies, especially by attacking ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
At the same time, security sources told Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya news network that Iraqi resistance groups launched drones from Akashat and Al-Ratbah in Iraq to Israeli regime. Kataib Hezbollah in a statement announced start of the operation and warned the US that its positions will be struck should it assist the Israeli occupation.
Iran's massove operation was welcomed by the Palestinian resistance factions. Hamas announced that Iran's military attack was a natural right and an appropriate response to the crime of the Israeli regime in targeting the Iranian consulate building in Damascus, and that it deserves appreciation.
Palestinian Resistance Committee, a coalition of a number of armed Palestinian groups, in a statement congratulated the Iranian response to the aggression of the Israeli occupation. "Iran's response against the Zionist crimes was within the framework of self-defense and a legal right guaranteed by all international laws and norms," the statement read.
