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Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on June 18 that Israel had destroyed Iran’s police headquarters in the capital, Tehran, as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stepped up strikes on the Islamic Republic.
Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets “destroyed the headquarters of the Iranian regime’s internal security, the main arm of the Iranian dictator’s oppression,” Katz said.
“As we promised, we will continue to target symbols of [Iran’s] rule and strike the Ayatollah regime wherever it may be,” he added.
Later, the IDF announced that some 25 fighter jets of the IAF had attacked at least 40 Iranian military targets in western Iran earlier in the day. The targets included missiles aimed at Israel, missile storage facilities and Iranian soldiers, according to the military.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin also said during a briefing the IAF had also bombed five Iranian AH-1 attack helicopters at an air base in the western city of Kermanshah. The IDF would later announce that three additional helicopters were hit in the same air base.
In addition, the IAF bombed an Iranian anti-tank guided missile production site near Tehran that was used by Iran to supply Hezbollah, according to Defrin .
“Air force aircraft are flying over surface-to-surface missile launch and storage sites. The aircraft are striking operatives who are attempting to return and take munitions from the sites that were previously targeted,” the spokesman said.
“Our message to them is clear: If you try to restore the terror capabilities in the area, you will be targeted,” he added.
The spokesman said that Israel has hit more than 1,100 Iranian assets in hundreds of strikes since the start of the attack on Iran on June 13.
“We are operating systematically to neutralize the nuclear threat,” he said, adding that the strikes are “deepening the significant damage” caused to Iran’s ballistic missiles and air defenses.
Iranian officials have reported at least 224 deaths in Israeli attacks, though that toll has not been updated for three days now.
The Washington-based Human Rights Activists monitoring group estimates the death toll at at least 585 people, including 239 civilians.
All in all, the IAF maintains the freedom of operation over western Iran and vast parts of the country’s central region, including Tehran. Despite this, Iranian missile and drone attacks are yet to stop. While this does not necessarily mean that Israel has failed, it does indicate that the IDF has reached its operational limits. Due to this, a direct intervention by the United States seems more than likely.
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