US Forces Destroyed Iranian Missiles, Drones in Big Air-Defense Battle

It was the first ever direct attack on Israel from Iranian soil. About 99 percent of the threats were intercepted by Israel and its partners, the Israeli military said, and most of them did not even enter Israeli territory – a remarkable air defense success.

U.S. forces in the region have cleared more than 70 Iranian munitions, senior Biden administration officials told reporters Sunday.

Two US Navy destroyers operating in the eastern Mediterranean – the USS Arleigh Burke and the USS Carney – engaged and destroyed between four and six ballistic missiles, and a Patriot air defense system shot down a ballistic missile at -over Iraq, one official said.

The majority of the remaining ballistic missiles were fired by Israel’s Arrow 2 and 3 systems, which constitute the upper echelon of the country’s sophisticated air defense network. A few ballistic missiles entered Israeli territory and hit targets, including an IDF base, causing minor damage, the army said.

U.S. warplanes also shot down more than 70 one-way Iranian attack drones, the Biden administration official said. They would not say how many planes were involved in the interceptions.

President Joe Biden said he had ordered the U.S. military to move aircraft and ballistic missile defenses to the region over the past week.

“Through these deployments and the extraordinary skills of our military, we helped Israel destroy almost all incoming drones and missiles,” he said in a statement.

“Our forces remain positioned to protect U.S. troops and partners in the region, provide additional support to Israel’s defense, and strengthen regional stability,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement after the attack .

British Defense Minister Grant Shapps confirmed that the United Kingdom has also intercepted several drones. None of the drones or cruise missiles launched by Iran entered Israeli territory, according to the IDF.

It is the largest air defense battle waged by the U.S. military in the ongoing, widespread Middle East crisis, which began with the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel, triggering an explosion of violence in the region.

Since October, U.S. forces have confronted aerial threats from Iranian-backed militias over Iraq and Syria, as well as the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The largest of these attacks involved more than 20 drones and missiles carried out by the Yemen-based Houthis earlier this year.

Tehran’s attack on Israel came in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic facility in Syria in early April. The strike killed several military officials, including two generals from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Following the incident, Iran vowed revenge and telegraphed that it would retaliate against Israel. The Middle East was on heightened alert over the past two weeks as it prepared for a possible response from Tehran, the scale and scope of which remained unclear.

Saturday’s attack drew resounding international condemnation, with world leaders blasting Iran is called “reckless.” The leaders of the G7 – made up of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan – said they had expressed solidarity with Israel and that they were committed to the security of the country.

“Through its actions, Iran has taken a further step toward destabilizing the region and risks provoking uncontrollable regional escalation,” the leaders said in a statement. “This must be avoided.”

For now, Israel appears to be calibrating its response to the Iranian attack, although it is not yet clear what that might look like.