<p >Footage from major Israeli cities has confirmed widespread destruction from Iranian ballistic missile strikes on the country, the first of which were launched in the late hours of June 13 to respond to major Israeli <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/israel-launches-major-strikes-iran-capital" target="_blank">air and missile attacks</a> earlier that day. Israel and Iran have exchanged multiple rounds of attacks, with Israeli strikes having targeted key infrastructure including water and sewage processing in Tehran, oil facilities, leadership figures, scientists, missile bases and nuclear facilities, among others. Although Israeli officials have considered launching attacks on Iran for over two decades, a primary factor that has deterred prior possible attacks has been Iran’s very large arsenal of ballistic missiles that reportedly numbers in the tens of thousands. Since Iran first <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/who-is-behind-iran-s-ballistic-missile-program-washington-blames-china-but-evidence-point-to-north-korea" target="_blank">gained the capability</a> to produce medium range ballistic missiles in the 1990s, when license production for the North Korean Hwasong-7 was set up in the country, its missile arsenal’s capabilities have transformed drastically, with new generations of missiles having repeatedly demonstrated the capability to bypass the highly dense air defence network defending Israeli comprised Israeli, <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/how-effective-is-thaad-in-defending-israel-against-iranian-missile-strikes" target="_blank">U.S. Army</a> and <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/usnavy-replenish-destroyer-missile-stocks" target="_blank">U.S. Navy assets</a>. Although images have confirmed major damage in population centres, the Israeli government has tightly controlled reporting on attacks on defence ministry buildings, airbases, and other sensitive targets that have been particularly singled out for attacks.&nbsp;</p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/16/article_684f5fbe157139_61523643.JPG" title="Aftermath of Missile Strikes on Tel Aviv"></p><p >Launched under Operation True Promise III, Iranian missiles strikes have caused mass casualties across multiple Israeli cities including Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Rishon LeZion,&nbsp;Rehovot&nbsp;and Haifa, and singled out targets including defence ministry buildings, residential areas that house large numbers of military families, oil refineries, and other high value targets such as the Weizmann Institute of Science in the city of in Rehovot. Footage showing the extent of the damage has fuelled criticisms in Israel of the decision to initiate hostilities with such a heavily armed adversary, with losses expected to worsen both as air defences are further depleted, and as Iran intensifies strikes and employs newer more capable classes of ballistic missile. Israeli netizens have increasingly likened parts of their country targeted to the Gaza Strip, which the Israel Defence Forces have intensively bombarded from October 2023, due to the extent of the damage. Israeli defences against Iranian drone strikes, and those by strategic partners from many Western countries and by Jordan, have reportedly been more successful in neutralising Iranian drone attacks, which unlike ballistic missiles can be intercepted by fighter aircraft and a wider range of air defence assets due to their slower speeds. The conflict has increasingly been referred to as a new ‘war of cities,’ a term first coined in the Iran-Iraq War, as both countries exchange missile attacks on one another’s major population centres.&nbsp;</p>
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