JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday rejected any discussion of whether Tehran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel hit anything there, a tacit acknowledgment that despite the launch of a major attack, few projectiles actually hit their targets.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments to senior military officials did not address this issue. the apparent Israeli retaliatory strike Friday over the central city of Isfahan, even as air defenses opened fire and Iran grounded commercial flights across much of the country.
Analysts say Iran and Israel, regional rivals locked in a shadow war for years, are trying to ease tensions following a series of escalating attacks between them. the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip is raging and inflaming the region as a whole.
Khamenei, 85, made the comments at a meeting attended by top brass of Iran’s regular army, police and paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, a powerful force within its Shiite theocracy.
“The other party’s debates about how many missiles were fired, how many of them hit the target and how many did not hit their target, are of secondary importance,” Khamenei said in remarks carried by state television.
“The main problem is the emergence of the Iranian nation and the desire of the Iranian army on an important international stage. That is what matters.
Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles to try to overwhelm Israel’s air defenses in the April 13 attack – the first against Israel by a foreign power since the Iraqi dictator. Saddam Hussein launched Scud missiles at Israel during the Gulf War in 1991.
However, Israeli air defense and warplanes, supported by the United States, the United Kingdom and neighboring Jordan, slaughtered the vast majority incoming fire.
Satellite images analyzed Saturday by The Associated Press showed Iranian attack caused only minor damage at the Nevatim air base in southern Israel, including removing part of a taxiway that Israel quickly repaired.
The Iranian attack came in response to a suspected April 1 Israeli strike targeting a consular building next to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. who killed two Guard generals and others.
“Today, thanks to the work accomplished by our armed forces, the Revolutionary Guards, the army, the police, each in its own way, praise God, the image of the country in the world has become commendable,” he said. Khamenei added, despite Iran facing public anger over its economy and a crackdown on dissent.
Separately, Iraqi security forces in the western region of Ninawa province were searching for “outlaw elements” who fired missiles across the Syrian border on Sunday evening, targeting a base of coalition forces led by the United States, the Iraqi Media Security Cell said.
Researchers found and destroyed a missile launcher, the statement added.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the reported attack.
Major General Tahseen al-Khafaji, head of the security media cell, said about five missiles were launched across the border, but it was unclear whether they hit or caused damage to the targeted base.
U.S. officials did not immediately confirm whether any U.S. facilities in Syria had been specifically targeted, but one official said there were no personnel injuries. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public.
Two nights earlier, explosion hits base in Iraq belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forcesa coalition of militias allied with Iran, killing one person and injuring eight.
Militia officials initially described the explosion at the Kalsu military base, north of Babylon, as an airstrike that they blamed on U.S. forces. US Central Command has denied carrying out airstrikes in Iraq, and the Iraqi Security Media Cell said the country’s air defense command had not detected any drones or warplanes near Babylon before or during the blast.
The PMF is designated as “independent military training” within the Iraqi armed forces.
In recent months, some coalition member groups have launched attacks against U.S. forces based in the region, in retaliation, they say, for Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Those attacks ended after three U.S. soldiers were killed in a strike on a base in Jordan, near the Syrian border, in late January, prompting U.S. retaliation in Iraq.
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Associated Press writer Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.
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News Source : apnews.com
