Iran showered a barrage of missiles on Israel as part of its ‘Operation True Promise II’, causing scattered damage and fires from falling shrapnel.On Tuesday evening, Iran fired at least 180 missiles at Israel as part of ‘Operation True Promise II,’ leading to escalated tensions in the Middle East. Israeli authorities confirmed that there were no casualties and while most of the missiles were intercepted by their defence systems, some managed to make it through. Israeli officials said Iran would pay a price for the strike.
Iran’s major offensive against Israel on October 1, its second direct attack after April, involved a barrage of missiles targeted at key military installations, including the Mossad HQ in Tel Aviv and the Nevatim airbase near Beersheba.The missile attack came after Israel said ground troops crossed into Lebanon in what the military described as a limited operation to root out Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure.Iranian state media described the country as using several types of ballistic missiles in its attack on Israel. Among them were the Emad and Ghadr, as well as Iran’s new Fattah missile, reported Reuters.
Missiles used by Iran to overwhelm Israel’s Iron Dome
While the Emad and Ghadr are medium-range ballistic missiles used by Iran, the country’s prized possession is the Fattah-2 missile, known as the “Conqueror” in Farsi. Iranian officials claimed last year that Fattah travelled as fast as 15 times the speed of sound with a range of up to 1,400 kilometres (870 miles).The Iranian attack on Israel on Tuesday marked the first time that the Fattah missile has been used by the Revolutionary Guard against a country as retaliation.While the Ghadr and Emad were fired to target the Iron Dome system, the Fattah-2 missile was targeted at the Arrow defence system, used by Israel to intercept long-range ballistic missiles.
The Emad missile, which is an upgraded version of the Ghadr, contains a manoeuvrable warhead and is capable of making changes in-flight, leading to an improved accuracy than its predecessor. Meanwhile, the Fattah missile series is fitted with a gliding warhead and has the capability to change its trajectory, thus making it harder to intercept. It also has the capability to accelerate outside the Earth’s atmosphere and has a movable nozzle for direction control, making it one of the most precise missiles out of Iran’s barrage.
