Israel's air shield is being tested like never before, because Iran shoots ballistic missiles | Today news

While Iran is shooting masses of ballistic missiles, Israel’s designated air defense is tested like never before. Iran launched about 200 such missiles in Israel on Friday night – in retaliation for a wave of Israeli strikes that day – and Saturday night 70 or so, according to the Israeli army. More came on Sunday and Monday. In total, Tehran sent 370 ballistic missiles to Israel, with about 30 targets in the country, says the Israeli government. They killed 24 people and injured almost 600. Towns such as Rishon Lezion and Bat Yam near Tel Aviv have made large houses. Haifa, a port city in the north, is very targeted, just like the central Tel Aviv. Iran also introduced hundreds of drones that were more easily intercepted. “We have some good defense systems, but they do not seal the air,” Israel’s ambassador in the US, Yechiel Leiter, told ABC on Sunday. “About 10% to 15% of these ballistic missiles come through.” This is in line with the expected “leakage of the Israeli army”. The US, although he did not join Israel to strike Iran, helps its ally to intercept Tehran’s missiles, with every wave costing millions of dollars to defend. Iran’s attacks since Friday were much more deadly and harmful than when the Islamic Republic fired missiles and drones on Israel in April and October last year. At that time, Iran concentrates mostly on military and intelligence targets. This time, the larger number of projectiles and more is on their way to civilian areas. Israel has previously faced pigs of missiles and drones of groups supported by Iran, such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. But none of the sophisticated ballistic projectiles fired by Iran, moving at much faster speeds, carry heavier explosives, can move the air into the air and spend a large part of their flight time outside the earth’s atmosphere, making it difficult to intercept. “If you have a navigation system, that means that the Israeli air defense systems will not be exactly the route of the rocket,” Giora Island, a retired chief general and former head of Israel’s National Security Council, told reporters on Monday. “That’s why we miss relatively more than we really want.” The Houthis in Yemen fired ballistic missiles on Israel, but usually no more than one at a time. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israelis to expect further attacks in the coming days of Iran and urged them to rush to bomb shelters when sirens with the air sound or they get phone warnings. It is a top priority for the IDF to prevent Iran from firing missiles. Since Friday, it has been trying to target the launch sites and officials said that about a third – or 120 – were taken out of them. Netanyahu says Israel is in “an existential campaign” aimed at putting Iran’s nuclear program back with years, if not forever. According to Iranian government, Iran’s highest leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel would “pay a very heavy price” for his strikes, which killed 224 people, including top generals and atomic scientists. Iran still has thousands of missiles about what Israel can achieve, National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel’s Army Radio on Monday. This is more than the 2000 figure proposed by comments from many Israeli officials over the past few weeks. But even if the lower number is accurate, Iran can still launch Salvos for a few days, if not weeks. A great advantage for Israel is that it has blunt the firepower of Hezbollah and Hamas in his wars since October 2023. Around 2011, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that 500 people in Israel could be killed by retaliation attacks if his government hits Iranian nuclear places. But he included rockets of Hezbollah and Hamas in his assessment. Even a 90% figure of interception does not mean life continues as normal for Israelis. Schools closed at least this week, and more than 100,000 people were stranded abroad after the country’s airspace was closed on Friday. Read The Big Take: Iran’s leaders are facing a reckoning, as Israeli strikes strengthen, there is also the sharp cost of intercepting. Each of Israel’s arrow-minded missiles, who are usually needed to shoot long-distance projects, costs about $ 2 million to $ 3 million. Often, more than one is launched to a ballistic rocket to increase the chances of being hit. In April last year, Bloomberg reported that it probably cost Israel – as well as the US, British, French and Jordan air powers – about $ 1.1 billion to crash Iran’s attack. It was for a few hours of work. This conflict has already lasted much longer. And there is a little sign of a late up. With the help of Dan Williams, Marissa Newman and Natalia Drozdiak. © 2025 Bloomberg MP This article was generated from an automatic news agency feed without edits to text.