The attack against the UAV factory in the city of Kermanshah in western Iran which was attributed to Israel, is a significant development in on going operations to disrupt Iranian aggressions and entrenchment in the region.
The attack resulted in some 100 destroyed drones and is a significant blow to the Revolutionary Guards.
This could be seen as a great success for the Mossad and the IDF, who are in charge of executing such operations, perhaps even in cooperation with foreign agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States or the British Secret Intelligence Service.
The decade-long war between wars waged against Iran is waged on four main fronts: Iran's nuclear weapons program; preventing it from setting up shop in Syria and establishing a joint Lebanese-Syrian-Iranian front on Israel's north-east border; confronting Iranian efforts to arm Hamas and Hezbollah with precision missiles; and the battle on the high sea's, in which Iranian ships carrying weapons are allegedly targeted by Israel, and in response Tehran attacks Israeli ships.
The attack on the UAV factory in Iran extends this war onto Iranian soil.
Thus far, reported Israeli actions in Iran were almost exclusively, in order to disrupt its nuclear program while Israeli military operations were conducted mainly in Syria, western Iraq, and according to foreign reports, also in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.
alleged targeting of Iran by Israel was limited to cyber attacks - in retaliation for Iranian attempts to harm Israeli infrastructure, such as the attempt to damage water systems in Israel two years ago.
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A destroyed building in the Iranian nuclear facility in Natanz, the attack was attributed to Israel
(Photo: AFP)
The Iranians have attempted to attack Israel with explosive drones. They developed quite quickly an impressive UAV industry, probably in response to the superiority of the Israeli Air Force in the region. Their drones were very similar to the ones the U.S. possesses, but were self-manufactured by Iran.
Iran did not use them only against Israel, but also against Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and officials in Iraq. The Iranian drone attack on oil refineries in Saudi Arabia in September 2019 paralyzed the Saudi oil refinery for a few weeks.
Since late 2021, Iran has renewed its attempts to attack Israeli territory with explosive UAVs. It also supplies drones to the Houthis in Yemen and the Shi'ite militias in Iraq - and use them against U.S. forces, and of course against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose armies are fighting in Yemen.
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The Iranian drone attack on oil refineries in Saudi Arabia in September 2019
(Photo: Reuters)
What alarmed Israel was the many successes of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their proxies when they used drones against targets all over the Middle East. In some cases attacks took place even at distances of over some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), making them a real threat to military bases and essential infrastructure facilities in Israel.
In the attack on the drone factory in Kermanshah, according to media reports, six Israeli UAVs were used, carrying a very large amount of a special type of explosive that caused massive destruction, in and around the factory.
So, no wonder the Iranians reacted with a ruthless attack on a civilian building in Erbil, the Kurdish capital in northwest Iraq.
The Iranians claim that their precise surface-to-surface missiles hit a Mossad training facility and killed Israeli officers and soldiers.
The term "training facility", probably means a facility where operatives are trained to become covert agents and execute missions in the Kurdish region in northern Iraq and inside Iran.
The Kurdish region in northern Iraq has a long border with Iran, which runs through a mountainous area that is easy to infiltrate from both directions.
The UAV factory in Kermanshah is some 300-200 kilometers (125-186 miles,)kilometers as the crow flies, from the city of Erbil.
The region of Kermanshah is mostly populated by Kurds - the same ethnic group that lives in Erbil.
In the past, the Kurds in Iraq and Iran had close ties with Israeli operatives from Mossad. Therefore, it is possible to assume that the Iranian attack was an attempt to discourage the Kurds in Iran and Iraq from collaborating with Israel.
The Iranians may also have taken the opportunity to avenge the killing of the two Revolutionary Guards officers in an attack attributed to Israel near Damascus International Airport last week.
Either way, the war between wars is expanding and escalating, and if disrupting the Iranian nuclear program was previously Israel's top priority - now the this campaign has become equally important.
First published: 18:38, 03.15.22