Following recent developments in the Middle East, the IDF believes: There is now an opportunity to attack the nuclear facilities in Iran.
Open Axis to Iran: The Air Force is concluding the operation to destroy Assad's army, and according to estimates - 86% of the Syrian air defense system has been destroyed. The meaning - Syria, which in the past was a significant threat to Air Force aircraft that were severely restricted from flying over its territory due to anti-aircraft threats, is now a much safer and more open airspace for flight.
The various security organizations - including the IDF - are currently carrying out a preparatory process between broad, intelligence and operational organizations, in order to provide the political echelon with the capabilities and the option of choosing whether to carry out an attack on the nuclear facilities.
Within the Syrian anti-aircraft system, which is considered the densest in the world and has fired hundreds of times at our aircraft in recent years, the Air Force has placed emphasis on the two most advanced systems, which managed to shoot down quite a few missiles that attacked Syria during the MABM period - the SA-17 system, of which 80% were estimated to have been destroyed, and the SA-22 system, of which 86% were destroyed.
In addition, 90% of the MiG-29 aircraft and about 80% of the Sukhoi-24 aircraft of the Assad army were also destroyed (a total of 61% damage to the Syrian Air Force).
In the Assad regime's fire and missile array, the achievements are more modest: certain missile arrays were destroyed in high percentages (80-90%), but there are other arrays that were damaged to a much lesser extent (20-30), and therefore the IDF estimates that it is certainly possible that advanced weapons, missiles, and other military capabilities that Israel does not know about will fall into the hands of the rebels.
The choice of which to attack from among Assad's entire army was made according to priority.
In total, in the operation to destroy Assad's army, the Air Force attacked about 500 targets, and used 1,800 munitions for this purpose, when until a few days before, such an operation had not been planned at all, and certainly not such extensive use of munitions and bombs that were intended for other arenas.
Only on Thursday, two days before Assad's fall, did the Air Force commander complete the approval process for the plans - and until that night, between Saturday and Sunday, the debate continued over when to put the plan into action. On Sunday at 10:00 AM, the signal was given, and the Air Force launched broad waves of attacks in Syria.