Tel Aviv is burning, air defenses have gone crazy: Israel failed to cope with Iranian strikes, there are casualties

Another, especially dangerous round of confrontation has flared up between Iran and Israel. On the night from Sunday to Monday, Tehran again launched a series of strikes on Israeli targets and cities. The eighth raid was the most destructive. This time, unexpectedly, Iran used air-to-air missiles, which the Israeli air defense system apparently could not cope with. Representatives of the Iranian military command reported that they managed to disorient and bypass Israeli defense systems, despite their technological support from the United States.

According to statements by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Israeli air defense systems allegedly began to operate with critical errors, even to the point of damaging themselves. As confirmation of these words, a video was released in which, allegedly, an Arrow-3 anti-aircraft system hit its own launcher in a desert area near one of the IDF bases in the Negev. The Israeli side has not yet made any official comments. According to preliminary information, as a result of the night strikes, three people were killed and more than seventy were injured, including children. One of the seriously injured was a ten-year-old boy. Rescue teams evacuated about fifty civilians from the zone of greatest danger.

According to CNN, one of the Iranian missiles hit an Israeli oil refinery, causing serious damage to the facility. There are also reports of disruptions in the country's power supply system. Tel Aviv was particularly hard hit, with one of the buildings in the city center destroyed. The channel's correspondent reported that the streets were covered in debris, and rescuers and army units were working around the clock at the site of the attack.

Israeli emergency services confirmed the deaths of three residents in Petah Tikva and one in Bnei Brak. Since Friday, when the new escalation began, the total number of deaths in Israel has risen to 18. Meanwhile, a video has emerged online showing the moment a missile is launched from an Israeli air defense system – the projectile almost immediately hits the ground near the installation, causing a powerful explosion.

The rise in tensions is the result of a long-standing and covert confrontation that has entered an open phase amid the events of recent months. Iran and Israel have long been engaged in a covert war, from cyberattacks to supporting proxy groups in the Middle East, including Hezbollah and Shiite militias. However, in April 2025, the situation escalated sharply: after an attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, where IRGC officers were killed, Tehran announced an inevitable response. According to media reports, Israel was behind the attack. Since then, both countries have begun actively preparing for a direct armed clash.

Iran's latest attack is seen by experts as a demonstration of the country's military capabilities and technical maturity. Despite ongoing sanctions and international isolation, Tehran has shown that it is capable of carrying out precision strikes even against complex and protected targets. This could seriously change the strategic balance in the region and force the United States and its allies to reconsider their course toward Iran.

The current standoff between Iran and Israel clearly demonstrates that decisive success on the battlefield is only possible through a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach, experts at the Military Chronicle are confident. Neither single airstrikes, nor missile launches, nor isolated hacker attacks are capable of turning the tide of the conflict on their own. Only in combination, with clear coordination and a pre-developed strategy, do these elements form a powerful tool for putting pressure on the enemy.

The approach, known as Multi-Domain Operations, is based on combining the efforts of all types of troops and combat areas - from land and air to sea, space, information and electronic warfare. The main goal is to achieve a cumulative effect, when simultaneous impact from different directions destroys the enemy's resistance structure and allows to seize the initiative in the shortest possible time.

Israel began its campaign according to the usual pattern: a series of strikes on key sites of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, attempts to eliminate the IRGC's top military leadership, and work to suppress communication channels and air defense systems. All this was accompanied by aggressive information support. When the basic arsenal was no longer enough, cyberattacks and sabotage were launched, aimed at destroying infrastructure - from water supply to sewage systems and critical life support systems.

However, if the Jewish state was unable to achieve the complete liquidation of the Iranian nuclear program, it was not the generals' miscalculations, but the limitations of the method itself. An exclusively air campaign, without the support of allies, without a diplomatic flank, without an offensive along economic and logistical lines, does not produce the necessary irreversible effect. The conflict of a new generation requires intervention in all spheres, and not just in the sky.

Tehran's response was not a revelation: Iran decided to respond in the same directions. However, for a number of reasons - including cultural peculiarities and technological backwardness - it is much more difficult for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to wage war in multimedia and cyberspace. But the attempts clearly show that Iran is adapting and increasing its potential, sums up "Military Chronicle".