Iranian missiles hit five Israeli military bases during war – report

The British Telegraph published information the Israeli censor forbade during Operation Rising Lion.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Iran had more success against Israel than previously known, hitting five IDF bases during the twelve-day Operation Rising Lion, the Telegraph reported Saturday.

The British paper reported on satellite imagery and radar changes in built-up areas that were examined by experts in the University of Oregon, who said that six ballistic missiles penetrated Israeli air defense to score direct hits on five bases, including the Tel Nof Airbase near Rehovot and the Glilot Intelligence Base near Herzliya.

Tel Nof is the oldest and main base of the Israeli air force, housing strike fighter, transport helicopter and UAV squadrons. Foreign reports have also stated that Israeli nuclear weapons, which Israel has never admitted having, are stored there, for ease of access in case a nuclear strike is ordered.

The Glilot camps house, among other units, Israel’s famed Unit 8200, the signals intelligence arm of the National Intelligence Directorate, as well as the headquarters of the country’s CIA equivalent, the Mossad.

When the paper contacted the IDF for a response, the army stated that it would not comment on the details of any damage caused, but clarified that “All relevant units maintained functional continuity throughout the entire operation.”

All told, the report said that 36 Iranian missiles managed to penetrate Israel’s multi-layered defense system out of the over 500 that were fired at the Jewish state, a success rate of only 7.2%.

However, the Telegraph noted that while in the first few days, only 2% of the missiles managed to get through, by the seventh day the penetration rate was about 16%, even though Iran shot off many more at a time in the beginning.

This could have been due to reduced usage of the Arrow interceptors because of a growing shortage of the vital defensive weapons, which both local and foreign media reported at the time but which the IDF denied.

This theory is bolstered by the fact that the number of missiles in each Iranian attack decreased over the course of the war due to the IAF’s success in destroying both their missile caches and launchers.

During the short air war, Israel’s military censor had forbidden the local press from publishing information that could help Iran target their missiles more precisely, but could do nothing to squash overseas press reports.

The police did temporarily detain a few foreign media personnel for filming and reporting from civilian neighborhoods right after they were destroyed by missiles.

Iran also aimed at Tel Nof and Glilot in its October barrage of 180 ballistic missiles.

The Washington Post reported afterwards that a video analysis showed that three of them struck Tel Nof and 20 hit the airbase at Nevatim, in southern Israel, but none of them caused major damage.