Opinion | War In The Middle East: The Air Campaign Against Iran

The operation began with a massive Israeli air strike involving 200 combat aircraft, which attacked 500 targets in western and central Iran within a short span of time

On the morning of February 28, the Americans and the Israelis plunged the entire Middle East into an unheard-of crisis by launching a massive combined operation, code-named “Urgent Fury" by the former and “Roaring Lion" by the latter.

Carefully planned during the previous months, it was preceded by a massive build-up. Washington thus dispatched to its Middle Eastern bases in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait around 200 combat aircraft, close to 100 tankers, two carrier groups (USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Gerald R. Ford), and a wide array of drones and support equipment operated by 50,000 servicemen, all acting under the Aegis of the American Central Command.

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These forces could also be supported by assets operating from bases located outside the region, such as B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers. This already massive force was backed by roughly 300 F-15, F-16 and F-35 combat aircraft and a small fleet of enablers such as tankers, Airborne Warning and Control System and Electronic intelligence-gathering aircraft and a much larger one of drones, all operated by the Israeli Air Force.

The operation began with a massive Israeli air strike involving 200 combat aircraft, which attacked 500 targets in western and central Iran within a short span of time, including ballistic missile launchers and air-defence systems, and foremost two locations in Tehran where several dozen Iranian leaders were gathered.

Altogether, 40 high-ranking officials, including the Supreme Guide Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Pakpour, the Secretary of Iran’s Defence Council Ali Shamkhani, and the Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, died in the attack.

The US armed forces entered the fray as well, firing volley after volley of Tomahawk cruise missiles, ATACMS and PRISMS ballistic missiles, as well as one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles, whilst both the Israelis and the Americans were also launching a series of cyberattacks.

During the following days, both allies continued to launch several waves of airstrikes per day whilst coordinating their actions through joint coordination cells. The Israelis were responsible for operating in western and central Iran and prioritising strikes against air-defences, mobile ballistic missile launchers, and command centres, before adding, during the next few days, the Iranian regime’s internal security apparatus in order to pave the way for a potential revolt of the Iranian population.

In the meantime, the Americans operated mostly in the south of the country to neutralise the missile and drone launchers used by the Iranians to strike targets in the Gulf, as well as the two Iranian navies.

By March 6, the sinking of the drone carrier IRIS Shahid Bagheri, the frigates IRIS Jamaran and IRIS Dena, and the corvettes IRIS Bayandor and IRIS Naghdi had been confirmed, whilst other ships were damaged, out of the 43 vessels, including a submarine, claimed by CENTCOM on March 6, 2026.

Most of these warships were struck in or close to port, with the exception of the IRIS Dena, which was sunk that day by an American attack submarine off the Sri Lankan coast. Meanwhile, the supply ship IRIS Bushehr had to be interned in Colombo, whilst the landing ship IRIS Lavan was interned in the Indian port of Kochi.

On their side, the Israeli Defence Forces claimed to have destroyed 300 ballistic missile launchers by March 6, corresponding to roughly 60% of Iran’s total inventory, but only the destruction of 27 of them could be independently confirmed through open-source intelligence. Similarly, Tel Aviv claimed to have neutralised 200 air-defence systems by March 2, but the destruction of only 23 radars, anti-aircraft guns, and air-defence missile systems could be confirmed by March 6.

Nonetheless, the intensity of the air campaign targeting the Iranian military and political apparatus is daunting. CENTCOM announced that it had struck 3,000 targets during the first seven days of the war, whilst the Israelis declared that they had carried out, within the same span of time, 2,500 sorties in 150 strike waves, during which 6,500 bombs and missiles were dropped or launched.

On their side, the Iranian air-defences, which operate under the aegis of the Khatam Al-Anbiya Air Defence Headquarters, are unable to oppose such an onslaught frontally. Most of their systems are therefore kept in hiding, operating in a guerrilla mode; that is, they unveil themselves by activating their radars only for very short periods in order to engage a target within range before cutting their emissions and moving away.

Moreover, the Iranians also operate a variety of systems designed precisely for such circumstances, as they are both small and mobile. These systems can also engage targets with electro-optical fire control and thus without emitting radiation that would allow the enemy to locate their position.

Thus, Iranian defences continue to represent a threat to enemy aircraft flying over Iran, as demonstrated by the confirmed shoot-down of six Israeli Heron TP and Hermes 900 unmanned combat aerial vehicles.

Furthermore, they claimed to have shot down an F-15 on 5 March in southwestern Iran and supported the claim with a video of the anti-aircraft system used to engage the aircraft. The American Central Command, however, denied having suffered such a loss.

What is certain, however, is that the United States Air Force lost three F-15Es during a bizarre engagement in which they were fired upon by a Kuwaiti F/A-18 on 2 March 2026 over Kuwait, in the middle of a combined Iranian air strike involving ballistic missiles, attack drones, and combat aircraft.

Indeed, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force remained active during the first days of the war, flying a limited number of combat sorties over Tehran to intercept enemy drones while launching a series of strike sorties at low altitude against targets in Northern Iraq and the Gulf.

However, it paid a heavy price for this activity. One Yak-130 fighter-trainer was shot down over Tehran by an Israeli F-35 on 4 March, while the Qataris claimed that one of their F-15s shot down two Iranian Su-24 bombers as they were ingressing over the sea at 80 feet to avoid detection toward Al-Udeid Air Base, one of the main American military hubs in the region.

Adrien Fontanellaz is a military historian and defence analyst. Views expressed are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.

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