Half of the Iranian missiles launched at Israel over the weekend were duds, misfiring because of “technical issues” — while US forces shot down nearly all of the rest, a report said Tuesday.
Of the more than 330 missiles and armed drones fired by the Iranian military Saturday night, only about 165 actually got airborne and headed toward their target, Israel, a senior US Air Force officer told the outlet the Intercept, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“US intelligence estimates that half of the weapons fired by Iran failed upon launch or in flight due to technical issues,” the source said.
Then US forces — and not Israeli air defenses — took out the majority of the surviving rockets, the Air Force officer said.
Only about nine of the intact missiles ended up making landfall in Israel, with one person, a 7-year-old girl, reported injured, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Despite the lack of damage, Iranian leaders said their attack had “achieved all of its goals.”
More than 80 of the rockets were shot down by US aircraft, with more being taken out by American warships in the Mediterranean, sources told the Intercept.
British, French and even Jordanian aircraft helped dispatch the rest.
Shortly after the attack Saturday, President Biden said US forces took out “nearly all” the Iranian rockets, which were fired from locations in Iran, Yemen, Syria and Iraq.
The “vast majority” of those rockets were taken out before they reached Israeli airspace, according to the Israeli Air Defense Forces.
The Middle East has been on a knife’s edge since the Saturday attack as Israel has vowed to retaliate over it — and Iran promises in turn to strike back even harder if it does.
“We are ready to use weapons that we have not used before,” Iranian officials told the Arab outlet Al-Mayadeen News.
Reports in Israeli media suggest the nation’s air force is already gearing up to strike back at Iran, possibly as soon as this week.
With Post wires
