From the Liveblog of
Saturday, March 7, 2026
IDF: Operational factors rather than technical issues responsible for shorter-than-usual early warnings for some missile fire
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The IDF Home Front Command clarifies that the shorter-than-usual early warnings issued for last night’s Iranian missile attacks are related to a variety of factors surrounding the detection of the projectiles, rather than a technical issue.
“The detection of barrages and launches is influenced by a variety of operational factors, and therefore it is not always possible to provide a long preparation time between the advance notification and the sirens,” the military says in a statement.
In the Friday evening attacks, the Home Front Command gave early warnings of 1-3 minutes, down from the typical 4-8.
The attacks in the early hours of Saturday saw 3-7 minutes between the early warning and the siren, which is fairly average.
“At times, the notification may be received relatively close to the sirens. It is important to clarify that there are situations in which sirens may be sounded without a prior advance notification, depending on operational conditions,” the IDF says.
The military says that the Home Front Command “sends an advance notification to mobile phones in the relevant areas as early as possible, as part of its public warning policy.”
The early alerts are issued based on the detection of launches from Iran and the stage of flight the missile has reached, meaning that in some cases, the warning may come only shortly before the siren itself.
Some unverified reports have attempted to tie the shorter warnings to damage caused to US radars in the region in Iranian strikes; however, this is highly unlikely.
The radar systems were damaged days ago, not last night and overnight attacks saw typical early warnings.
The Times of Israel Community.