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Israel Air Force Base Commander Describes Missions to Iran
(Israel Hayom) Yoav Limor - Brig.-Gen. S., commander of Tel Nof Airbase, landed an hour and a half before this interview after carrying out a strike in Iran. He said that once you cross the border into Iran, "You tense up, you sharpen your focus, you look at your formation, you search for missiles that could be launched at you, and above all you want to complete the mission and return home safely." Although he holds a high rank, S. joins some of the sorties himself. Only that way, he said, can he fully understand the missions, make sure they are being carried out properly, see how the battlefield is changing and what threats are emerging, and provide feedback to those planning the missions. "I'm not doing this for fun," he said. "I'm doing it to bring operational value." I asked whether he is afraid. He said yes. Fear is a wonderful thing. It keeps you alert, sharp and precise. "Anyone who says he isn't afraid is lying." He says there are pilots who have already flown more than 30 strike sorties into Iran. One a day, and even more in the early days. He said that in an average month, the two fighter squadrons at his airbase log 200 flight hours. In the past month they logged 5,200. "The real heroes are the ground crews. They make this magic happen." He praised cooperation with the Americans. "If you have to choose a partner, it's this partner. The beauty of this relationship is that each side brings its relative advantages: they bring the power, the quantity, the scale, and we bring the flexibility, the familiarity with the theater, the operational experience. Together we are achieving very impressive results. They are a wonderful partner." "We began with a surprise opening blow that included decapitating the leadership and going after the missile array and surface-to-air missiles in order to achieve air superiority, and we are continuing with the systematic destruction of all military industry in Iran. We are taking away their production capabilities and their ability to recover....We are operating in a way that will make it very hard for them to recover from this. But it takes time. It requires patience. I compare it to a boxing match: you don't win in the first round but after several rounds. That's what we're doing." He said that Oct. 7 is always there, for every one of them. "We understood that if the enemy has the ability to harm you, you have to take that ability away as quickly as possible, because the longer you wait, the more complicated it becomes."