In the wake of October 7, we are in a world without Yahya Sinwar, without Mohammed Deif, without Hassan Nasrallah — and now also without Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, who was reportedly in a bunker, is a move that reshapes the entire balance of deterrence in the Middle East and places Israel in a position of advantage not previously seen.
In recent months, Military Intelligence and the Israeli Air Force have refined their ability to carry out targeted decapitations. What began in Lebanon, continued in Operation Rising Lion, and was further honed in Yemen reached what could be described yesterday as an art form — perhaps the largest targeted killing in history. Alongside Khamenei, the opening strike eliminated — at multiple locations simultaneously — many of the regime’s senior figures: Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Pakpour, Khamenei’s security adviser Ali Shamkhani, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, military intelligence chief Saleh Asadi, and other senior officials.
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IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir monitors the progress of strikes on Iran
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Air superiority within hours
The major takeaway from the first day of Operation Roaring Lion is the understanding that our future lies in our own hands and in the hands of our allies — not in the decisions of our enemies. Just as we failed to grasp that Hamas had changed, Nasrallah did not understand that Israel had changed, and Khamenei did not understand that the United States had changed. One cannot rely on trying to decipher the enemy. There have been failures in that regard and there will always be failures. The most important thing is to look in the mirror and take responsibility for the present and the future.
Saturday morning demonstrated precisely that: Israel acts, plans and executes at full strength, knowing that its future is in its own hands. There are no shortcuts. No one can finish the job for you, nor can you exempt yourself from it. Success is the result of sustained work and attention to detail. For years, the IDF operated under a central mission of postponing war. Since October 7, that era has ended.
In an extraordinary operation, some 200 fighter jets operated for hours over western and central Iran, dropping hundreds of munitions on approximately 500 targets: air defense systems, missile launchers, command-and-control sites, launch infrastructure and more. All the strikes were carried out in daylight, based on real-time intelligence and in full synchronization between the Air Force, Military Intelligence and the Operations Directorate. Despite Iran’s highest state of alert, Israel managed to penetrate, disrupt key systems, strike selected targets with high precision and expand air superiority over Iran in less than the 48 hours it took to achieve similar control during Operation Rising Lion.
The freedom to operate was created and led by Israel in Iranian skies, enabling rapid, precise and unrestricted action. That is the most significant achievement of this operation.
Beyond the elimination of Khamenei, the central achievement of the first day was the attainment of complete aerial freedom of action — an accomplishment whose importance cannot be overstated. The IDF opened the path, and the U.S. military joined the operation in full coordination. The freedom to operate was created and led by Israel in Iranian skies, enabling rapid, precise and unrestricted action. That is the most significant achievement of this operation.
A state that built an entire layered defense array, with backup systems and rare intelligence and operational coordination, saw all its layers exposed and struck simultaneously — without precedent in the history of warfare. The art of precise elimination reached its highest levels here, due to the distance involved and the daylight execution — all the result of IDF capabilities alone.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who prepared the campaign, said it was “a significant, fateful and unprecedented campaign to destroy the capabilities of the Iranian terrorist regime — capabilities that constitute a continuing existential threat to the security of the State of Israel. A campaign that will ensure our existence and our future here in the land of our forefathers for generations.”
He added that “the radical Iranian terrorist regime has not abandoned its vision or its rigid intentions to advance its plan to destroy Israel: to continue promoting the nuclear project, to rebuild and increase the pace of ballistic missile production, and to destabilize the region by arming and financing terrorist proxies.”
Yossi YehoshuaThe chief of staff emphasized that in recent months, under the direction of the political leadership, a deep and joint operational plan had been developed in coordination with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commander of U.S. Central Command. This represents close and unprecedented cooperation between the IDF and the U.S. military — not only in defense, as in the past, but also in offense. It is the work of two powers together, not of a power and its patron — and the entire world sees this.
Proxies feared intervening
Iran’s failure to activate its proxies, Hezbollah and the Houthis, marks another strategic achievement: deterrence established on the first day, preventing subsidiary conflicts from escalating into a broader campaign. Nevertheless, parts of the Iranian regime remain intact, and it is unclear whether or how it will respond in the coming days. The continuation of the confrontation also depends on developments in the regional arena and on our ability to preserve the advantage achieved yesterday morning.
The central lesson learned is that Israel is the state responsible for its own future. It must not rely on what its enemies do or do not do. Saturday’s success stems from our ability to take responsibility for the present and the future and to continue acting consistently without shortcuts — not relying on magic or tricks, but on steady work, constant readiness and precise control at every level of attack and intelligence.
This achievement is not only an operational success; it is also a clear message to the world that Israel safeguards its freedom of action, its home front and its deterrent capability at all times and in all places.
First published: 09:35, 03.01.26