The Defense of Israel

During the pre-dawn hours of April 13, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel. The attack was in response to a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian consular building in Syria two weeks prior which killed two Iranian generals and five other officers. For those following current events, it is of little surprise that regional tensions between Israel and Iran reached a boiling point this spring in the aftermath of the October 7th, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Steve Baker

The

Defense

of Israel

Boiling point

During the pre-dawn hours of April 13, Iran

launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel.

The attack was in response to a suspected

Israeli strike on an Iranian consular building in

Syria two weeks prior which killed two Iranian

generals and five other officers. For those

following current events, it is of little surprise

that regional tensions between Israel and

Iran reached a boiling point this spring in the

aftermath of the October 7th, 2023 Hamas attack

on Israel.

The Iranian regime undoubtedly felt significant

internal and external political pressures to

respond to the Israeli attack on the consulate.

However, the Iranians had to walk the line

between triggering a full-scale regional war

with the need to show strength. In the two weeks

between the consulate attack and the Iranian

response, Iran communicated its intentions via

the Turkish embassy and diplomatic dialogue

was channeled thru Ankara back to Tehran.

U.S. Officials warned Iran that any response

needed to be “within certain limits” to avoid

further escalation. Using this back-channel

information, the United States quickly scrambled

to coordinate a defensive response with Israel

and regional allies to thwart the imminent

Iranian aerial assault. Israeli air defenses were

bolstered with the additional deployment of U.S

Patriot SAM systems and U.S. Navy Destroyers in

the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The destroyers

USS Carney (DDG-64) and the USS Arleigh

Burke (DDG-51) were on station and are AEGIS-

equipped vessels, which are highly capable of

shooting down ballistic missiles.

The Iranians Attack

The Iranians launched Operation “True Promise”

with a massive barrage of approximately 120

Emad intermediate-range ballistic missiles

(IRBMs), 30 Paveh-type cruise missiles and

170 Shahed drones fired at Israel. As U.S. early

detection capabilities picked up the launches,

International civil aviation quickly ceased in the

Gulf region as the airspace between Iran and

Israel closed. GPS signals were subsequently

jammed and degraded by western forces in an

effort to minimize the navigational accuracy

of the drones. The drones and missiles were

launched to saturate Israeli defenses by having

all of the weapons arrive within close time

proximity. Iranian IRBMs take approximately

20 minutes to reach Israeli territory while

cruise missiles and drones take 2 hour and up

to 9 hours respectively. Targets in Israel were

primarily located in the northern (Golan Heights)

and southern (Negev Desert) ends of the country

and away from the more densely populated

areas of the country, undoubtedly a calculated

move by Tehran.

Fighter Defense

The initial barrage got off to a rather dubious

start. “U.S. intelligence estimates that half of the

Photo above posted by the IDF on Facebook on April 12th, the day before the attack.

“Hellcat” 494th FS F-15E Tail Number AF96-201 returns to RAF Lakenheath with 9 red missiles markings

symbolizing drone kills

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