Israel wipes out a third of Iran’s missiles, drastically reducing Tehran’s strikes overnight

AYIA NAPA, Cyprus — Israel has wiped out a third of Iran’s total ballistic missile launchers since Thursday, drastically reducing the risk Iran poses not just to the Jewish State, but the world, Israel Defense Forces officials told The Post.

Israel has eliminated 120 Iranian missile launchers since Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion” began, leaving the Iranian regime with less and less leverage over Israel and its partners as it clings to roughly 66% of the arsenal they had just four days ago, IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Monday.

The accomplishment has already had an affect on Tehran’s fight, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched fewer than 50 missiles at Israel last night — roughly half as many the Iranian regime’s prior barrages, a separate IDF official said.

“The Israeli Air Force struck over 100 military targets in Iran overnight,” the person said. “The strikes focused on central Iran — the main area where missile launchers and ballistic missiles remain.”

Among those targets were more than 20 missiles being prepared for imminent launches at Israel.

“Based on precise intelligence, launch teams that were either operating from command centers or en route to carry out launches against Israel were eliminated during the strikes,” the official said.

The operation’s success was made possible because Israel secured “full operational control over Tehran” in just three days, according to the official — something Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed to do over Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv in more than 3.5 years of war.

“Some of (the eliminated 20 missiles) were identified by IAF aircraft just minutes before their planned launch, covered on in plastic,” the official said.

That air superiority is also enabling Israel to continue “targeting Iranian cells in real time as they launch missiles toward the state of Israel and our aircraft,” Defrin said.

“The aerial capabilities we previously saw in Gaza, Lebanon and Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank) are now operational in Iran,” he said.

Additionally, Israel targeted more than 20 Iranian military and Quds Force command centers, killing the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s head of intelligence, his deputy and the deputy head of the Quds Force’s intelligence organization.

“The Quds Force has been the main conduit for many of the terrorist attacks and assaults against Isreal in recent decades,” Defrin said. “Now, the command centers where these attacks were planned have been completely destroyed.”

“The Quds Force is the central terror arm of the Iranian regime. It is responsible for operating Iran’s proxies around Israel’s borders and for distributing weapons and missiles intended for attack the state of Israel,” he added.

However, Iran still managed to strike four different areas in northern and central Israel Sunday night, killing eight civilians and injuring dozens more, Defrin said.

“This is the face of the Iranian terror regime: while we target military and nuclear capabilities intended to destroy the state of Israel, they fire at population centers with the aim of harming civilian,” he said.

“This is precisely why we launched the operation: to eliminate the existential threat posed to the state of Israel: the nuclear and missile threats.”