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By means of military analyst Sean Bell

In response to Iran’s unprecedented attack just over a week ago, when Iran fired at least 331 missiles at Israel, Israel launched its own retaliatory strike on Friday.

While neither side has commented on the effectiveness or otherwise of the Israeli response, it was apparently of significantly smaller magnitude than the Iranian barrage.

However, more details are now emerging about the impact of the Israeli attacks, providing insight into their intended objectives.

Israel’s Interest in Iran’s High Value Targets (HVTs)

Isfahan Air Base is located near several Iranian nuclear development sites, where more than 3,000 scientists work on Iran’s nuclear program.

The base also forms a central core of Iran’s military defensive capability.

Satellite images show one of several air defense sites with a central radar – at the center of the facility – and a number of missile launchers aimed at the expected threat and protected within berms to prevent an attack on one destroying others.

Such missile sites protect High Value Targets (HVT) and their priority is to detect, track and address incoming threats.

Before targeting an HVT, Israel would have to downgrade such a defensive capability, and the immediate priority would be to eliminate the long-range radar – the eyes of the system – at the center of the facility.

Israel would target Iran’s defense missiles

Satellite images appear to show that the Israelis have successfully destroyed the radar in their latest wave of precision attacks, leaving major scorch marks throughout the area. seen in the New York Times.

With the radar destroyed, the Iranian missiles cannot find their target and are therefore redundant. Later satellite images show that the missiles were no longer on their berms and were likely hidden to protect them from further attacks.

So why is this important?

Iran launched one huge wave of attacks on Israel a week ago, but with very limited effect.

In response, Israel was able to punch holes in critical Iranian air defense systems, clearly demonstrating that all Iranian HVTs are vulnerable to Israeli attacks.

Although neither Israel nor Iran has publicly disclosed the impact of the Israeli strikes, the surgical nature of the Israeli strike clearly demonstrated Israel’s military dominance.

A message that will not be lost on the intended recipient: the Iranian political leadership.