The IDF is close to destroying half of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers, sources told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
The disclosure came after IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin, on Thursday afternoon, noted that the air force has now destroyed “hundreds” of such launchers.
Such statistics could be highly significant because there is a likely tipping point around 50-70% damage to Iranian launchers where, even if the Islamic Republic still has 15,000 ballistic missiles left, it will be unable to launch more than 10-30 at a time, which will make it much easier to shoot down all of the missiles.
Already on Monday, the IDF said it had destroyed 120 Iranian ballistic missile launchers, which it placed at around one-third of the total.
Military successes and drawbacks in Iran
The latest statistics on Thursday suggest that this initial estimate may have been overly optimistic.
The four impact points from Iranian missiles on Thursday morning, causing mass damage and wounding around 150 civilians, show that the threat still remains very real.
But the reduction of Iran firing hundreds of missiles at a time down to dozens has already become a clear trend for multiple days consecutively, showing that the IDF does seem to be getting closer to a tipping point.
Meanwhile, Iran used “cluster bomb warheads” with smaller explosives attached in its attacks on Thursday.
According to an initial investigation, somewhere around seven km. above the ground, the missile splits into several smaller bombs, each of which has an impact of an eight-km. radius.
Each one of the smaller bombs carries around two kg. of explosives.
The cluster bombs were used in the attack on Azor.
If one of the cluster bombs fell in Holon, it could explain why many heard “miniature blasts” that occurred after the initial blast.
The Fire and Rescue Authority sent out an urgent message saying that some of the miniature warheads had landed but had not exploded.