On paper, Iran is no match for the IDF. The Israeli army is certainly mired in the Gaza Strip with the war against Hamas, in Lebanon and in Syria against Hezbollah. But the Israeli military assures that it has all the means to open a new front by launching an all-out offensive against Iran in retaliation for the 350 missiles and drones fired for the first time from Iranian territory towards Israel this weekend. end.
For the moment, however, Benyamin Netanyahu, subject to American and European pressure, seems to be hesitant to give the green light, while the army general staff tends to want to fight it out.
The United States, to say the least, circumspect
After Iran's historic attack on Israel, the authorities of the Jewish state, via General Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the IDF, announced the color: “Israel will retaliate”. A sentence thrown around during a visit to the Nevatim air base, the only Iranian objective to have suffered some damage.
To get his message across, the officer had himself filmed alongside an F-35, a plane with the latest American technology… But a message which above all resembles a call to the big American brother to the least circumspect.
American President Joe Biden has in fact made it clear that he would not accompany Israel in a war against Iran. In addition, Democratic senators are pushing for American arms aid to Israel to be reduced. However, as Netanyahu said at the beginning of the year, the American arms industry is essential to the survival of the State of Israel…
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A still impressive aerial arsenal
The fact remains that in the immediate future, the Jewish state has the means to do great harm – even if its weapons stocks have fallen since the start of the fighting on October 7 following the massacres committed by Hamas.
The Air Force has F-15 and F-16 planes capable of crossing 1,600 to 2,000 km to reach virtually the entire Iranian territory thanks to refueling cargo planes.
Israel has also equipped itself with F-35, a latest generation American stealth plane, supposed to go almost unnoticed by radar stations. To take advantage of the advantage that this discretion confers, the Israelis added disposable fuel tanks along the way to extend the range of these aircraft while allowing them to remain discreet.
Triad
“The skies of the Middle East are wide open for our Air Force. Every enemy who attacks us will be attacked wherever he is.” , warned Yoav Gallant, the Minister of Defense. The Israeli arsenal also includes long-range Jericho-type missiles. At sea, the Jewish state has five German-made submarines armed with missiles. Some of these aircraft cruise off the Iranian coast.
Important detail: Israel would be part of the very exclusive club of countries with “triad” nuclear, according to foreign sources. In other words, a capacity to launch a nuclear attack in the air, on land and at sea, according to foreign sources.
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For more than half a century, Israel has always refused to confirm that it has a nuclear arsenal, hiding behind the vague formula according to which the Hebrew State “will not be the first to introduce weapons of mass destruction into the region”.
But Mordehaï Vanunu, a former technician employed in the Dimona nuclear power plant, revealed in 1986 in the Sunday Timessupporting photo, the secrets of this installation built with the help of France at the end of the 1950s which would be at the heart of the Israeli military nuclear program.
This peace activist was then kidnapped by the Mossad before serving 18 years in prison. Released at the end of his sentence, he is still prohibited from leaving Israel or speaking to journalists or foreign diplomats to this day.
The Mossad strike force
Other formidable weapons: cyber attacks. In December, mysterious hackers paralyzed three-quarters of Iranian services, causing huge traffic jams. In 2020, the largest Iranian port of Bandar Abbas had its computer system sabotaged, which plunged it into chaos for several days. Israel had not claimed responsibility for these operations, but is considered the biggest suspect by cyber experts.
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Finally, the Mossad can also inflict serious blows. In the past, several atomic scientists and missile engineers were victims of targeted eliminations by commandos on Iranian territory using car bombs in particular. In 2018, Benjamin Netanyahu proudly showed the media the secret archives of the Iranian nuclear program which Mossad agents had managed to seize in a building located in the suburbs of Tehran.
As a warning, Israeli media published the names and photos of senior leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said to be responsible for the missile and drone attacks. At the top of the list is General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander-in-chief of the air force of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic.
