File image.
An Iranian ballistic missile struck the city of Beersheba in southern Israel on April 20 morning, causing casualties and damage.
The missile hit a road in the northeastern part of Beersheba, creating a large crater, damaging several buildings and setting multiple vehicles on fire. The nearby Soroka Hospital said that it had received at least seven casualties, all lightly wounded.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps later said that the strike targeted the Negev Advanced Technologies Park, also known as Gav-Yam Negev, claiming that the center is linked to the Unit 8200 of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Intelligence Corps and involved in the development of loitering munitions. Footage posted to social networks confirmed that the center took some serious damage.
Citing an IDF official, The Times of Israel reported that only one ballistic missile was fired from Iran and managed to bypass all Israeli air defenses.
The IDF later announced that it had struck other primed ballistic missile launchers in Iran, foiling a larger attack on Beersheba.
“The Iranians planned this morning a larger barrage at Beersheba. Before the launch, we identified preparations of three primed launchers… we destroyed them,” IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a press conference.
Earlier in the night, the Israel Air Force (IAF) said that it intercepted three Iranian suicide drones that had triggered sirens in the Dead Sea area in eastern Israel. Another drone was intercepted over the northern city of Haifa shortly after midnight, according to the IAF.
According to the IDF, Iran has launched more than 450 ballistic missiles and 1,000 suicide drones since the start of the Israeli attack on its nuclear program, codenamed Operation Risin Lion on June 13. The attacks claimed the lives of at least 25 people and left more than 500 others wounded in Israel.
While Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel are getting less intense, they are getting more accurate and devastating. This shows an improvement in Iranian planning and exposes a degradation in the readiness of Israel’s multi-layered air defense network.
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