Air raid sirens sounded across central Israel on Thursday. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it had not received any reports of injuries. Authorities were checking reports of interceptor debris that fell in central Israel.
A senior Israeli Air Force officer said Israel hopes to restore a state of near-normal daily life within days even as fighting continues, with the military maintaining ongoing operations deep inside Iran against the country’s ruling clerical establishment.
Speaking with ynet, the officer said Israel’s ability to sustain such a situation depends on achieving air superiority and suppressing Iran’s surface-to-surface missile array. “I don’t fool myself into thinking we can completely eliminate it,” the officer said. “But we can reach a better place, and that is the goal.”
Footage shows Israeli Air Force strikes in Iran
(Video: IDF)
The officer said that despite significant achievements during last June’s operation Rising Lion, also referred to as the 12-day war, the campaign could only produce temporary results. “You can’t compress a root treatment into 12 days,” he said. “You can only do something temporary.”
According to the officer, the Air Force began preparing for the next round of fighting even during the early stages of that campaign, anticipating that further conflict would come. Those preparations are now being put to use.
“The fact that aircraft are now operating four times more than they did during Rising Lion required preparation,” he said. “There are pilots who have flown to Iran three times in one day. It’s extraordinary, and that requires physiological preparation and a support framework that allows for endurance.”
Israel’s sustained strikes inside Iran are also driven by concern that the campaign could end before all planned targets are hit, particularly if U.S. President Donald Trump decides to push for an end to the fighting.
Another key objective is to reduce missile fire on Israel’s home front as quickly as possible. To achieve that, Israel must continue targeting Iran’s air defense systems before striking missile launchers, the officer said.
He added that before Operation Rising Lion, U.S. officials did not view Iran’s surface-to-surface missile arsenal as a near-existential threat in the same way Israel did. Since then, however, that assessment has evolved, and the shift is reflected in the current campaign.
Addressing the missile threat requires a long-term effort rather than a temporary strike, the officer said. Israel’s goal is to inflict cumulative damage severe enough that Iran’s vast defense industry cannot quickly replace the destroyed capabilities. Achieving such a wide-ranging impact requires a prolonged campaign, he said.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah has deployed fighters from its elite Radwan force in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border in areas they withdrew from during fighting in 2024, according to three Lebanese sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters.
The sources said Radwan fighters were ordered to join the fighting and block the advance of Israeli tanks, including in the town of Khiam, one of several areas where Israeli forces were reported to be operating Tuesday. The sources did not specify how many fighters were deployed.
First published: 16:59, 03.05.26