Iranian missiles rain down on one of Israel’s largest air bases
Video footage of the Iranian missile attack on Israel appears to show the moment dozens of rockets rained down in the vicinity of Israel’s Nevatim air field.
Streaks of bright orange light can be seen piercing the night skies above the desert military base as Tehran launched about 180 ballistic missiles during a large-scale aerial assault.
Some appeared to be intercepted by the Iron Dome system, while others struck the ground.
Other footage shared on social media showed missiles exploding in the vicinity of the Mossad headquarters in the northern outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Tel Nof, Israel’s largest and oldest air base, was also seemingly targeted in the barrage, according to geolocated footage.
It was unclear if there was any damage as a result of the strikes.
GeoConfirmed ISR.
Iranian ballistic missiles hit the Israeli Ort Tel Nof Air Force base.
Point of view – 31.833837, 34.857067RVM4+GRP Mazkeret Batya, Israel
note: Based on GeoConfirmed footage, at this point, two air bases are hit:Ort Tel Nof Air Force baseNevatim Air… https://t.co/dauaOKplVj
— GeoConfirmed (@GeoConfirmed) October 1, 2024
Most of the Iranian-launched missiles were intercepted by Israeli and US surface-to-air weapons, according to officials.
Israel’s air defence system – known as the Iron Dome – is designed to intercept incoming projectiles expected to hit populated areas or military facilities.
To conserve valuable interceptor rockets, the system has a mechanism that allows rockets through if they are not predicted to hit something on the ground.
The Pentagon confirmed two naval destroyers based in the Mediterranean Sea were involved in the operation.
Footage geolocated by open source intelligence analysts showed a huge crater from a missile impact on a road near Ramat, north of Tel Aviv.
The IDF said people had been injured in the Iranian attack but the only known death was a Palestinian man in Jericho, a city in the West Bank.
The strikes were the first time Iranian hypersonic missiles were used, state media reported.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it had destroyed an unspecified number of batteries of Israel’s state-of-the-art Arrow air defence system using Fattah-2 hypersonic missiles.
Nevatim air base, about 40 miles south of Jerusalem, is one of Israel’s largest military bases and is known to house the country’s fleet of F-35 stealth fighter jets.
There were questions over any damage sustained during the Iranian assault late on Tuesday as the IDF was assessing hit sites.
The base had previously been targeted and damaged during a similar aerial raid in April by Iran on Israel.
A spokesman for the IDF said its air force “continues to operate at full capacity” after the bombardment was headed off.
The US, which joined the effort to intercept ballistic missiles fired at Israel, also said it was not aware of “any damage to aircraft or strategic military assets in Israel”.
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