The missile strikes carried out by Iran against Israel in 2024 revealed the absence of the so-called "defensive shield" often touted by Israeli media, according to General Major Ali Mohammad Naeini, spokesperson for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
During operations “True Promise - 1” and “True Promise - 2” (Iran’s names for its strikes on Israel), it became evident that the enemy’s defense had crumbled, Naeini stated in an interview with SNN. He dismissed claims of Israeli invincibility as false, emphasizing that Israel’s military could not even detect or intercept missiles from Yemen's Ansar Allah movement.
Naeini criticized Western and Israeli media for painting a "false picture of Iran as weak" while asserting that, in reality, global elites and think tanks recognize Iran as a powerful and independent regional force.
In 2024, for the first time in 45 years, Iran and Israel exchanged direct military strikes, dramatically heightening tensions in the Middle East. On April 1, Israel bombed Iran’s consulate in Damascus, killing high-ranking IRGC generals. In response, Iran launched "True Promise - 1" on April 14, deploying missiles and drones against Israel.
The cycle of retaliation escalated further when, on July 31, the day after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran by a targeted Israeli missile strike. Later, on September 27, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC Deputy Commander Abbas Nilforushan were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. On October 1, Iran retaliated with the “True Promise - 2” operation, deploying hypersonic missiles against Israel.
The hostilities continued on October 26, when the Israeli military launched retaliatory strikes on Iranian air defense installations in the provinces of Ilam, Tehran, and Khuzestan, resulting in the deaths of four Iranian soldiers. Iran vowed further retaliation, promising to initiate “True Promise - 3.”
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Photo: آرش (Arche)/Creative Commons 3.0
Based on materials from TASS