Israel’s military on Saturday said it carried out a series of airstrikes on Iranian military assets, including 16 aircraft at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, which it described as a key hub used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
In a statement, the Israeli military said the Israeli Air Force conducted a “broad wave of strikes” overnight across Tehran, targeting military infrastructure at Mehrabad Airport.
“Sixteen aircraft belonging to the Quds Force unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were precisely dismantled,” the statement said, referring to the branch responsible for Iran’s foreign operations.
According to the military, the Revolutionary Guards had been using the airport—one of two serving the Iranian capital—to transfer cash and weapons to allied groups in the Middle East, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The statement added that several Iranian fighter jets believed to pose a threat to Israeli aircraft operating in Iranian airspace were also targeted during the operation.
Earlier on Saturday, Israel’s military said more than 80 fighter jets had carried out another wave of strikes on Iranian military facilities, missile launchers and other strategic sites in Tehran and central Iran.
“Over 80 Israeli Air Force fighter jets completed an additional wave of strikes targeting infrastructure belonging to the Iranian terror regime,” the military said.
Describing the operation as one of the largest raids since the regional conflict began on February 28, the military said Israeli jets also struck a Revolutionary Guards military academy that it claimed was being used as an emergency operational facility.
Israel said the site was being utilised for military activities, making it a “lawful military objective.”
Other targets reportedly included an underground command centre, missile storage facilities and launch sites, which Israel said were struck to reduce missile threats against its territory.
At the start of the conflict, when Israel joined the United States in launching large-scale strikes on Iran, the Israeli military said about 200 fighter jets were deployed in the operation, describing it as the largest air campaign in the Israeli Air Force’s history.
