“The entire Air Force was ready to take off”: Israeli commander details aborted strike on hundreds of targets in Iran
Maj. Gen. Omer Tishler revealed that Israeli warplanes were fully armed and prepared for a sweeping operation deep inside Iran before the mission was canceled just one hour before launch.
The Israeli Air Force was preparing to launch one of its most ambitious operations against Iran last week when the mission was abruptly canceled just one hour before takeoff.
The disclosure came in a letter sent by Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Omer Tishler to air force personnel, offering a rare glimpse into how close Israel came to dramatically escalating its confrontation with Tehran.
The sequence began after Israel carried out a strike in Dahieh, the southern Beirut district that serves as a stronghold of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese group that has been engaged in conflict with Israel for decades and has launched attacks on northern Israel since the start of the war in Gaza.
Iran responded by launching dozens of surface-to-surface missiles at Israel. Israel's air defense systems intercepted the incoming threats and no casualties were reported.
"Last week, after a strike in Hezbollah's stronghold in Dahieh, the State of Israel was attacked with dozens of surface-to-surface missiles launched from Iran," Tishler wrote. "The air defense array operated in an extraordinary manner, intercepted all relevant threats, with no casualties in the State of Israel."
The missile attack was followed by an Israeli response that reached far beyond the country's borders.
According to the commander, Israeli aircraft struck targets approximately 1,500 kilometers from Israel, deep inside Iranian territory. He said the attacks significantly damaged Iranian air defense systems and hit additional components associated with the regime.
Yet those strikes, substantial as they were, appear to have been only a prelude to a much larger operation.
In one of the most striking passages of the letter, Tishler revealed that the air force prepared for a broad assault targeting hundreds of sites in Iran.
"The next day, in the afternoon, the entire air force was ready to take off for a broad strike sortie," he wrote.
The preparations were extensive. Aircraft were armed, crews were briefed, operational plans were finalized and squadrons were preparing for departure. Tishler described an effort that required the force to shorten alert times while demonstrating unusual flexibility and readiness.
The operation never left the ground.
"The strike was stopped while we were briefing in the squadrons, only one hour before departure for the sortie," he wrote.
Tishler did not identify who ordered the cancellation. Nor did he provide details about the intended targets beyond describing them as "hundreds of targets in the heart of Iran."
He did, however, reference a memorandum of understandings reached between Iran and the United States.
"It is too early to know how global moves will affect the security reality," he wrote. "But our mission was and remains to protect the security of the State of Israel and act on its behalf."
