Israel says attacks on Iran have been ‘deep and systematic’

Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir said on Wednesday that Israel’s strikes on the Islamic Republic had been “deep and systematic.”

“We achieved a combined and deadly success that, alongside the attacks of our American partners, delivered a severe blow to Iran. We destroyed a large part of their chain of command, seriously damaged their command-and-control capabilities as well as their weapons production capacity, reduced their ability to launch missiles at Israeli citizens, and created unprecedented freedom of action for the Israeli military in Iranian skies and in other arenas,” Zamir said.

In a separate summary marking the end of the first month of the war, the Israeli military said it had carried out more than 800 offensive air force sorties using around 16,000 munitions, killed more than 2,000 members of Iran’s military and command structure, and struck more than 4,000 targets.

It said the opening blow of the operation, which it described as unforgettable, included the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and about 40 other senior officials in less than a minute.

It added that simultaneous strikes were also carried out on the intelligence ministry and the defense council, and that the largest operational flight in Israeli air force history was launched on the same day.

The Israeli military said the opening phase of the operation, dubbed “Bereshit” – the first word of the Torah typically translated as "In the beginning" – involved around 200 fighter jets, hundreds of munitions and about 500 targets, and that it secured air superiority in Iran within 24 hours.

It also said it targeted a secret Revolutionary Guards meeting at a hotel in Beirut in the second week of the war, killing five senior commanders from the Guards’ Lebanon and Palestine corps, branches of the Quds Force.

According to the statement, several other key figures in the Islamic Republic were targeted in the third and fourth weeks of the war.