Gallant at IAF base: After we strike in Iran, world will understand all our training
Defense minister says those who dreamed of destroying Israel last year have paid ‘heavy price’; Austin says employees of his office not being probed for leak of Israeli prep for strike
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday told pilots and air crews at an airforce base that “after we strike in Iran, everyone will understand what you did in the preparation and training process.”
Visiting the Hatzerim base ahead of Israel’s promised response to Iran’s October 1 major ballistic missile attack, Gallant said, “Everyone who dreamed a year ago of beating us and attacking us paid a heavy price and are no longer in that dream.”
Israel has held several major drills simulating long-range strikes on Iran over the years in preparation for a possible confrontation with Tehran. On Tuesday, the FBI said that it was investigating the unauthorized release of US classified documents on Israel’s latest preparations for a potential retaliatory attack.
Some social media posts in recent days singled out a US Defense Department employee as supposedly being under investigation for the leak, but offered no evidence.
Speaking to reporters in Rome, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said there were no indications any employees from the Office of the Secretary of Defense were being probed for the leak.
The documents are attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency and note that Israel is still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s ballistic missile assault.
The Islamic Republic has been bracing for an Israeli reprisal after its latest direct attack on Israel, where it fired 200 ballistic missiles that sent most of Israel to bomb shelters on October 1, killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank, and caused minor damage in residential areas and at military bases. Iran said the missile assault came in response to strikes in Lebanon that killed the top leadership of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group and a July blast in Tehran that killed Hamas politburo head, Ismail Haniyeh.
Israel has signaled that its expected retaliation for the missile barrage could be widened as a result of a Hezbollah drone attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea on Saturday, which the premier has referred to as an attempted assassination by “agents of Iran.”
