The precise nature of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strikes into Iran on October 25 has obscured the significant damage inflicted on critical Iranian military infrastructure. The IDF conducted precision strikes targeting around 20 locations across Iran, including facilities tied to the Iranian drone and missile programs and air defense network. The strikes initially appeared to cause very little collateral damage and casualties. Even though the strikes caused relatively little visible destruction, they will likely have significant and long-lasting consequences by disrupting Iran’s ability to produce certain kinds of ballistic missiles for itself and its partners as well as by severely degrading Iran’s ability to defend against future air attacks.

The recent IDF strikes into Iran followed months of Iranian escalation against Israel. Iran conducted its first-ever direct attack on Israel from Iranian territory in April 2024 after the IDF killed one of Iran’s senior-most Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders in Syria. Iran fired over 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles targeting the IDF Nevatim airbase in the Negev desert and an IDF intelligence center in Mount Hermon. Israel and its allies intercepted the vast majority of the projectiles that Iran fired at Israel. Israel responded to the April 2024 Iranian attack by striking a Tomb Stone target engagement radar that was part of an Iranian S-300 air defense system in central Iran. Eliminating a target engagement radar renders a surface-to-air missile battery unable to track and engage targets.

[...]

Read the full article at the Institute for the Study of War website.