Israel is continuing with its operation aimed at neutralizing Iran’s nuclear program, dubbed Rising Lion. Israeli forces have apparently already made use of drones and missiles launched by operatives from deep within Iran, as well as air-launched munitions, as you can read more about here. Iran has now also launched at least one retaliatory attack consisting of approximately 100 drones. Readers can first get caught up on the situation through our initial reporting here.
Author’s note: We have ended updates on this post. You can find the latest on our new post here.
Since the start of Operation Rising Lion last night, Israel has struck more than 100 major targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities and missile sites, and killed senior military commanders and scientists in what Tehran said was a “declaration of war.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have provided additional information about one of the key nuclear targets that they went after overnight.
This is the uranium enrichment site in the Natanz area, a particularly tough target that is understood to be buried more than 130 feet below ground and which is protected by a steel and concrete shell. It was targeted by Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighters.
According to the IDF:
“This is the largest uranium enrichment site in Iran, which has operated for years to achieve nuclear weapons capability and houses the infrastructure required for enriching uranium to military-grade levels. As part of the strikes, the underground area of the site was damaged. This area contains a multi-story enrichment hall with centrifuges, electrical rooms, and additional supporting infrastructure. In addition, critical infrastructure enabling the site’s continuous operation and the Iranian regime’s ongoing efforts to obtain nuclear weapons were targeted. We will continue to operate to prevent the Iranian Regime from acquiring nuclear weapons.”
A video released by the IDF shows the destruction of an Iranian surface-to-surface ballistic missile that was apparently disguised as a commercial truck:
A video that shows the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Tabriz, reportedly targeting an Iranian ballistic missile facility. The extent of the secondary explosions could well indicate the presence of solid fuel associated with ballistic missile storage and/or production:
Also reportedly taken in Tabriz, the following video claims to show an Israeli Heron drone operating over the city:
More details are now coming to light about some of the individuals who were targeted.
The IDF says that they eliminated multiple senior officers within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force. Reportedly, IAF fighters struck an underground IRGC Air Force HQ overnight, killing the commander of the service, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, together with senior officers, among them drone chief Taher Pour and air defense head Daoud Shaykhian.
Previously, Iranian state media had confirmed the deaths of the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Hossein Salami, the Army Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Joint Forces Headquarters, Maj. Gen. Gholamali Rashid, and six nuclear scientists, including Fereydoun Abbasi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization from 2011 to 2013.
Meanwhile, Israel appears to be making good on Prime Minister Benjamin’s assertion that the process of “rolling back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival” will take “many days.”
The IAF says that operations against Iran are continuing, including flexing to more defensive operations, to bring down drones launched by Iran against Israel in response to Operation Rising Lion.
The IAF has released footage showing F-16 fighters taking off to shoot down the drones, at least 100 of which have reportedly been launched at Israel. Although the IDF has said it has “control over the situation,” not all of the drones have been shot down.
A tweet from the IAF shows a pair of F-16s about to launch to intercept Iranian drones:
Footage from the ground in Iran indicates that Israel is continuing offensive operations, as well. The IDF campaign has included efforts to degrade and disable the Iranian air defense system, which will allow the IAF to operate more freely in and around Iranian airspace.
At least one unverified video claims to show IAF aircraft operating with impunity “in Iranian airspace,” including an F-16 taking on fuel from a 707 Re’em tanker, although the legitimacy of this claim cannot be confirmed.
The IDF has released pictures and videos showing strike aircraft armed with a mix of weapons, including Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) precision-guided bombs and Rampage missiles, which are an adaptation of a ground-launched precision-guided artillery rocket.
There are also signs that the Israeli strikes may be switching their focus to Iranian airpower, with reports from Iran of attacks on at least two Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) bases, Noje Air Base in Hamadan province and Tabriz Air Base in East Azerbaijan province. A video purported to show the aftermath of an airstrike on the latter shows a column of smoke rising above it.
Reflecting the intensity of the IAF air operations so far, there have been multiple sightings of discarded drop tanks, jettisoned by F-15s in the course of their missions, as seen in the tweets embedded below.
Foreign powers around the world are also reacting to the still-evolving situation. Today, U.S. President Donald Trump described the attack as “excellent” and warned further strikes would be more brutal unless Tehran agreed to back down over its nuclear program. This contradicts Washington’s previous official stance that Israel’s action against Iran has been unilateral.
“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” Trump said in a social media post.
In another post, the U.S. president suggested Israel had attacked a day after a 60-day deadline he had given Iran to secure a deal had run out and indicated vaguely that Iran might have a “second chance.”
This is a developing story, and we will continue to update it as more information becomes available.
Update, 10:30 AM Eastern:
The following video claims to show the evacuated Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel’s main international air transport hub, on the outskirts of the city of Lod. The airport was closed until further notice earlier today, due to concerns about possible retaliatory strikes from Iran. Publicly available flight data from today also indicates that airlines cleared out of the airspace over Iran, Iraq, and Jordan.
A separate video has also emerged showing Israeli commercial aircraft now parked at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus.
While the following video cannot be verified, it’s claimed to show a pair of IAF C-130J transport aircraft flying at very low level over southeast Syria, close to the border with Iraq. If that’s the case, the airlifters could have been involved in transporting Israeli commandos out of Iran after the first strikes of Operation Rising Lion. Reports from Israel, citing an unnamed Israeli security source, suggest that the strikes included the use of drones and missiles launched by operatives from deep within Iran.
The Israeli Navy, as well as the IAF, has been active in intercepting drones inbound from Iran. The following footage, published by the IDF, is said to show the interception of a drone over the Red Sea by an Israeli Navy Sa’ar 6 class corvette. As you can read about here, the Sa’ar 6 is well equipped for such air defense missions, being armed with Barak-8 surface-to-air missiles plus a pair of Rafael C-Dome systems, which are armed with Tamir missiles.
While the IRIAF appears to have been heavily targeted by Israel, there are indications, at least, that at least some Iranian aircraft might have been able to get airborne after the launch of Rising Lion. The following video shows an F-5E or related Saegheh fighter flying over Ahvaz in western Iran. A column of smoke rising in the background suggests that the jet was scrambled soon after an Israeli airstrike. It’s also possible that the aircraft was in the process of evacuating its base as that came under attack.
The response to the current conflict from Hezbollah, Iran’s most important regional proxy, has been interesting, to say the least. Hezbollah’s warfighting capacity has been seriously eroded after its senior leadership was killed in Israeli strikes last fall. As of today, the Iran-backed militia has given no sign that it will get involved in the Iran-Israel conflict. While Hezbollah has condemned Israel’s attacks, it has said it will not respond with its own strikes on Israel.
Update, 11:00 AM Eastern:
Details of Israel’s assessment of the initial phase of Operation Rising Lion continue to emerge.
According to an unnamed Israeli security official, speaking to Fox News, the success of the airstrikes that eliminated the IRGC Air Force leadership relied upon tricking those officials into gathering for a meeting, and then keeping them there.
“We did specific activities to help us understand things about them and then used that information to make them act in a specific way,” the security official said. “We knew this would make them meet, but more importantly, we knew how to keep them there.”
There are indications, too, that Israel was surprised by the success of the initial series of airstrikes, which appear to have been conducted in a notably compressed period of time.
According to the same security official, more than 20 sites across Iran were targeted in less than 15 minutes. These included apartments and offices, with the targets being particular individuals, like the IRGC Air Force leadership. These strikes were in addition to those that went after Iran’s nuclear facilities and air defense sites.
We are also getting a slightly better picture of U.S. involvement in the Israeli operation.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed that Washington provided “exquisite” intelligence to Israel, which will have helped ensure the success of its airstrikes. Rubio reiterated that the United States did not play a military role in the Israeli attack. However, the U.S. military will be ready to help defend Israel if needed — especially against ballistic missiles and drones launched from Iran — something that it has done in the recent past.
Update, 12:00 PM Eastern:
Satellite imagery is beginning to emerge, showing the extent of the damage caused by some of the Israeli airstrikes.
The following imagery shows the aftermath of the attack on the uranium enrichment site in the Natanz area, which was reportedly targeted by IAF fighters. According to initial analysis, the airstrikes appear to have destroyed the pilot fuel enrichment plant and damaged at least two other buildings, including the electrical substation that provides power to the facility.
However, there is no visible damage to the below-ground enrichment facility, nor to a new complex being constructed south of Natanz.
Despite some rumors that the airstrikes may have led to a radiation leak, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said today that radiation levels outside of the Natanz uranium enrichment site remained unchanged after the airstrikes.
Other Israeli strikes appear to have been less successful, in that they hit missile-related hardware that had, according to analysts, been out of service for some time. The following screen capture from an IDF video shows a transporter-erector-launcher (TEL), which Decker Eveleth, a strategic forces analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses (CAN), a U.S. nonprofit research and analysis organization, notes has been immobile at the same location for the last seven years.
Update, 2:00 PM Eastern:
There are reports that Iran is preparing to launch ballistic missiles as part of a new retaliatory attack on Israel. The IDF has also said it has detected an incoming threat from Yemen.
Iranian oil and natural gas infrastructure could be targeted if retaliatory strikes hit Israeli population centers, the latter country’s Channel 12 has reported.
Pictures of debris said to have been found in Iraq in the wake of Israel’s ongoing strikes on Iran point to the use of air-launched ballistic missiles based on the Sparrow target missile. Israeli defense contractor Rafael openly offers a missile fitting this general description called Rocks, which you can read more about here. Evidence pointing to the use of Rocks or a related design had emerged after Israeli strikes on Iran last year, as well.
Additional satellite imagery of areas known or believed to have been targeted in Iran continues to emerge. There is notably no evidence yet of damage to Iran’s nuclear technology center in Isfahan or the IR-40 heavy water reactor complex in Arak.
Reports that Israel has been striking additional targets, including Iran’s key enrichment facility at Fordow, also continue to emerge.
Axios has reported that U.S. President Trump and his administration deliberately misled Iran and the public about their opposition to Israel’s strike on Iran, citing two unnamed Israeli officials. At the same time, even today, Trump has publicly insisted that he remains interested in striking a deal with the regime in Tehran over its nuclear ambitions.
Update: 2:26 pm Eastern
Multiple ballistic missiles have impacted in Tel Aviv. Dramatic video shows interceptors flying up in a last ditch effort to hit the incoming warheads in their terminal stage. Some clearly leaked through:
Israel has warned Iran that it would go after its oil terminals if it struck civilian targets in population centers, according to Israel’s Channel 12.
Another video shows that Iran targeted what is likely a David’s Sling/Stunner air defense site. You can see the missile impact right near where an interceptor rises up just after:
Iran’s plan would have logically been to target/overwhelm key air defense sites capable of intercepting ballistic missiles in an attempt to degrade Israel’s defenses for follow on attacks.
Additional video of the saturation attack:
Another strike:
Long exposure image of the action over Tel Aviv:
Two separate rumors/claims are circling about the loss of IAF fighters — an F-16 from earlier and an F-35. Both are entirely possible and some losses should be expected in an operation of this scale and risk. But no proof that this has actually happened exists at this time.
Damage seen in Tel Aviv:
Israel reports that roughly 150 ballistic missiles have been launched so far with ten impacts in central Israel. The attack is ongoing Israel says.
Update: 3:16 pm Eastern
Even more dramatic footage showing the ballistic missile impact near an air defense site in Tel Aviv:
Khamenei talking trash to Israel on X:
Israel responds further to Iran’s missile attack, warning Iran will play a “heavy price” for doing so:
One of the missiles landed very close to the MoD. Unclear if it was targeting the building or a battery nearby protecting it:
Update: 4:20 pm Eastern
We have ended updates on this post. You can find the latest on our new post here.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com