Israel hit an Iranian regime-controlled television network on Monday, another example of the Jewish state’s broadening of its campaign against the Islamic Republic
Israeli warplanes struck Iran’s state-controlled broadcaster on Monday, causing an explosion that scattered debris live on television and forced an anchor to hurriedly flee offscreen.
As a hijab-clad presenter disseminated regime propaganda on the state-run Akharin Khabar network, a loud explosion rocked the studio, sending pieces of the facility flying into frame. As smoke quickly filled the room, the anchor ran offscreen while others shouted in the background.
The strike—and others like it—highlight how Israel has significantly broadened its military campaign in recent days, hitting the hardline Iranian regime’s political institutions, government buildings, and military headquarters. The attacks are meant to further destabilize an Islamic Republic already on the defensive following Israel’s successful opening salvo.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu conducted an interview with Iran International, an exiled opposition network that counters the hardline regime’s external propaganda, shortly after the strike.
Israel continued to pound Iranian military sites from Sunday even into Monday morning as the war entered its fourth day with no sign of slowing down.
A Monday morning strike took out “a communication center that was being used for military purposes by the Iranian Armed Forces,” according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The building, disguised as a civilian outpost, served as a command center for Tehran’s army.
“The strike directly harmed the military capabilities of the Iranian Armed Forces,” the IDF said.
Israel provided advanced warnings to the surrounding civilian population, including phone calls, before conducting the operation.
Israeli planes destroyed more than 20 Iranian military and Quds Force command centers late Sunday night, according to the IDF. The Jewish state also assassinated “the head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization and his deputy, as well as the head and deputy head of the Quds Force Intelligence Organization,” IDF spokesman Effie Defrin said during a briefing.
Iran’s Quds Force, a paramilitary outfit, is “the main conduit for many of the terrorist attacks and assaults against Israel in recent decades,” Defrin said. “Now, the command centers where these attacks were planned have been completely destroyed.” Several of these outposts were “deliberately placed in civilian buildings and high-rises” to inflate potential civilian casualties.
A separate operation late Sunday saw more than 50 Israeli fighter jets destroy about 120 surface-to-surface missile launchers stored in central Iran. This accounts for “one-third of the launchers in the hands of the Iranian regime,” according to the IDF.
“We also struck missile storage and production sites,” the IDF spokesman said. “We are moving from launcher to launcher and eliminating this critical capability.”
