The military said the operation was carried out by the Israeli air force based on accurate intelligence.
According to the IDF, eliminating the top Iranian “terrorist regime” includes:
- Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a targeted airstrike near Tehran;
- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well as the majority of the group's leadership;
- the chairman of the paramilitary wing of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, and the commander of its military department, Mohammed Deif;
- Chief of the Houthi General Staff Muhammad al-Ghamari;
- commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami, as well as other officials.
“For decades, these officials acted with the goal of destroying the State of Israel. As part of this activity, they facilitated the brutal massacre of October 7, as well as dozens of other terrorist attacks against the State of Israel and its citizens. […] Their elimination has significantly weakened Iran's “axis of terror” and made the Middle East safer for the State of Israel and the entire world,” the statement said.
Israel scrambled approximately 200 Israeli air force warplanes in a massive strike against targets in western and central Iran, the IDF reported. The military called it the largest military raid in the history of the country's air force.
