[IsraelTimes] Eyal Zamir says Iran had 2,500 missiles at start of campaign, was set to reach 8,000 in two years; military sources indicate Israel not running low on interceptors
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Friday that Israelis must prepare for a “prolonged campaign” against Iran to “eliminate a threat of this magnitude,” indicating that a quick end to the campaign was unlikely.
In a video statement, Zamir said Iran had been “building for years a clear plan to destroy the State of Israel” and that in recent months, “the plan reached the point of no return, where the capabilities reached operational capability.”
Zamir said Israel launched its opening attack on Iran knowing that “Iran possessed around 2,500 surface-to-surface missiles, with a high production rate, such that within approximately two years, they were expected to possess around 8,000 missiles.”
Iran’s ballistic missile efforts, nuclear advances and regional terror proxies “compelled us to strike and deliver a preemptive blow,” said the general.
“The IDF will not stand by and watch as threats develop,” he said. ”
As part of an emerging doctrine, we will act proactively and in advance to prevent an existential threat and to face any challenge.”
Israel launched the operation against Iran following some 20 months in which the Jewish state has significantly degraded the Islamic Republic’s proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen, in a series of conflicts that began with the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.
According to Zamir, the IDF “prepared for this operation for years” and launched it “thanks to the convergence of operational and strategic conditions.”
“Had we delayed, there was a risk of losing these conditions and entering the campaign in the future from a position of clear disadvantage,” he said. “We understood that history would not forgive us if we failed to act now to defend the existence of the Jewish people in the State of Israel.”
The IDF’s opening “surprise” strikes on Iran “achieved extraordinary results,” said Zamir.
“We eliminated the enemy’s senior command, inflicted deep damage to components of the nuclear program, opened an aerial corridor to Tehran, identified and destroyed about half of the missile launchers, some just minutes before launch, and surprised the enemy despite its heightened state of alert,” he said.
“Dear citizens of Israel, he continued. “Alongside the offensive operations, the defense of the home front continues. This is a different challenge from what we have known until now. The enemy, in its weakness, deliberately targets civilians, as we have experienced once again in the recent barrage. Our enemies do not understand that the Israeli home front is the source of the IDF’s strength, not its weakness.”
“We are preparing for a range of possible developments. We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history. We launched this campaign in order to eliminate a threat of this magnitude, against such an enemy, which requires readiness for a prolonged campaign,” said Zamir.
“The IDF is prepared for this. With each passing day, our freedom of action is expanding, and the enemy’s is shrinking,” he said. “The campaign is not over. While we have achieved significant results, challenging days still lie ahead, and we must remain alert and united until the mission is complete.”
“I am confident that together, we will finish this campaign with Israel’s hand on top,” added Zamir.
His caution to gird for a long campaign came as Channel 12 reported that Israel’s security establishment has realized that the military campaign against Iran, which began last Friday, will take longer than thought just days ago.
IDF officials told reporters on Tuesday that the campaign’s goals would be reached within a week or two. The shift is likely connected to US President Donald Trump saying that he would take up to two weeks to decide whether the US would join the campaign.
Israel says its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.
Iran has retaliated by launching over 470 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel. So far, Iran’s missile attacks have killed 24 people and wounded thousands in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.
Some of the missiles have caused heavy damage to apartments and other civilian infrastructure, including a university, a hospital and an oil refinery.
IDF INDICATES IT’S NOT RUNNING LOW ON INTERCEPTOR MISSILES
| Answering the question discussed yesterday. |
As Israel prepared for a longer conflict, the IDF said Friday that it is “prepared and ready to handle any scenario,” appearing to belie US media reports that Israel would have to begin rationing its interceptor missiles.
The military has officially declined to comment on specific munitions matters.
Military officials have told The Times of Israel that the operation in Iran was months in the planning, and that preparations took into account Iran’s stock of ballistic missiles and drones that it could fire at Israel.
Huh. One wonders where certain news media got the idea that Israel was about to be defenseless, or if once again certain media were making stuff up to advance their preferred narrative. This means the IDF had prepared ahead of time for the roughly 2,500 surface-to-surface missiles that Zamir said Iran possessed at the start of hostilities.
Additionally, the IDF is actually running through fewer interceptors than it anticipated at this point in the operation. The IDF estimated that Iran would fire several hundred ballistic missiles at Israel in its initial response. In reality, it launched just 100.
The 470 ballistic missiles that Iran has fired at Israel in the past week were also below the IDF’s “reference scenario” for the operation, military officials said.
According to the military, most of the Iranian missiles fired at Israel in recent days have been intercepted, at similar rates to Iran’s two first-ever attacks on Israel, in April and October of last year.
Military officials said 5-10 percent of the missiles “leak” through and impact Israel. This includes missiles that the IDF says it does not try to shoot down “according to protocol,” allowing them to strike open areas without causing damage to any critical infrastructure, as well as missiles it failed to intercept which hit urban areas and caused casualties and damage.
The military has routinely emphasized that, as good as Israel’s multilayered air defenses may be, they are not hermetic.
NETANYAHU SAYS IRAN OP WILL SAVE ISRAELIS AND IRANIANS ALIKE
Standing in front of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Netanyahu said in an English-language statement Friday that the world-renowned institution was “smashed by a rocket from this evil regime.”
On Sunday morning, an Iranian ballistic missile destroyed two buildings at the Weizmann Institute — a life science building and an empty building that was still under construction. Dozens more were damaged.
The premier said Iran was working “to destroy human progress. That’s what this regime is about.”
“They subjugate their own people,” said Netanyahu. “They’ve trampled on them for almost 50 years — the long-suffering Iranian people whom we embrace. We understand what they’ve been going through, and we understand what the region has been going through and what the world has been going through.”
Netanyahu argued that Israel is operating against Iran to save itself from annihilation, “but by doing so, we’re saving many, many others.”
The premier said he had warned then-US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ahead of the 2003 Iraq invasion, “you will finish this very quickly. But your primary goal is the Iranian regime. And the Iranian regime is trying to develop a nuclear weapon, even then.”
The comment came as some US media have ridiculed Netanyahu this week by airing his 2002 congressional testimony, when the premier, then a private citizen, urged the US to invade Iraq, insisting that it would stabilize the region. 
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