Airbase commander says airstrikes on Iran blunting ballistic missile fire

The commander of the Hatzerim Airbase says Israeli Air Force strikes in Iran are reducing the ballistic missile fire on Israel.

“We are targeting the enemy’s missiles, weapon depots, launchers, and personnel, thereby reducing the number of launches at the State of Israel,” says Brig. Gen. “Ayin” in a video, who is only identified by his first initial for security concerns, despite his full name being available on the IDF’s website.

The IAF has conducted over 1,000 sorties over Iran in the past eight days, with fighter jets dropping hundreds of munitions on Iranian ballistic missile launch and storage sites, disrupting its attacks on Israel from western Iran, the military says.

IAF drones have also struck numerous ballistic missile launchers and eliminated dozens of Iranian soldiers at the launch sites, according to the military.

The IDF says these strikes make Iranian soldiers “feel hunted,” adding that they “have been observed abandoning and fleeing” the launchers.

Iran’s forces have been pushed eastward and southward due to the strikes, the IDF says. Each day, new strikes are carried out against the launch sites in western Iran to prevent Iranian forces from returning to them, according to the military.

The IAF estimates it has so far taken out over 200 ballistic missile launchers, or about half what Iran had before the conflict.