Over six thousand US soldiers from the air force, navy and army and around two thousand Israeli soldiers involved in the operations. Over thirty operational bases were used and around fifty naval units were involved, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Plus a few hundred analysts working in the USA and the same number of space force soldiers
These are the numbers of people directly or indirectly involved in what is happening in the Middle East. Just to hit the building where Ayatollah Khamenei was taking refuge, three attacks were carried out in a single minute, twenty seconds apart from each other by around 250 soldiers and agents. Thus, precision bombs dropped by Israeli aircraft fell in the area of the complex located in Tehran. But this was only the last act of a job that lasted months conducted by the CIA who has progressively acquired certainties about the position of the “supreme leader” and his behavior. Until we learned that a meeting of senior Iranian officials would take place on Saturday morning in a command complex in the heart of the capital and that the “number one” target would take part.
The Agency then forwarded the information to Israel and the green light was given operations to seize the moment when the leaders would meet in the offices of the Iranian presidencythe Supreme Leader and the National Security Council of Iran. At that precise moment, Mohammad Pakpour, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, could also have been in the same place; Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh; Admiral Ali Shamkhani, head of the Military Council; Seyyed Majid Mousavi, commander of the Iranian air force and Mohammad Shirazi, deputy minister of intelligence.
Operation «Epic Fury»
The takeoffs took place at six in the morning in Israel, with a limited number of aircraft all armed with long-range, high-precision munitions. During an in-flight refueling and two hours and five minutes after takeoff, around 9:40 am in Tehran, the complex was hit. Immediately afterwards, Operation “Epic Fury” was launched with B-2 low visibility bombers, latest generation F-35 aircraft and others to quickly transport large munitions, such as F-15s; then F-16 for ground attack and possible air-to-air defenses; F/A-18 for bombing, F-22 for air supremacy and the old but still incomparable A-10 Warthog, nightmare of the land forces. All this together with cruise missiles launched from ships to hitting over a thousand targets on the first day of the war.
At 1:15 am on February 28 the targets were the aerospace forces and joint headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, nine ships and three submarines of the Iranian navy, anti-ship and ballistic missile sites, command and control, communications and air defense centers.
Ships, submarines and missile sites targeted
In the first hours of the attack, due to its position, potentially dangerous for the closure of the Strait of Ormuzan Iranian Jamaran-class corvette was hit, then sunk a few hours later while attempting to return to the Gulf of Oman at a pier in Chah Bahar. Fundamental for the search and location of targets are electronic warfare, warning and reconnaissance aircraft such as the EA-18G (variant of the F/A-18), the P-8 maritime patrol vessel, the RC-135 and the MQ-4 Titan and MQ-9 Reaper drones.
Among the transport aircraft, the C-17 and C-130. In total they were used over 230 combat assets for a total of 416 missions in 48 hoursto which must be added the ammunition and defenses used against Iranian attacks, such as Patriot interceptors, Thaad anti-ballistic missile systems and M-142 high-mobility artillery rockets. The Pentagon also confirmed the use of the new Lucas unidirectional attack drones (Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System), as well as some special capabilities not defined due to secrecy.
What could happen in the next few weeks
Space Command forces are also involved in the operations, but the United States has not declared which satellites are currently engaged in surveying and analyzing the Gulf area. On the Iranian front, only four years ago the Islamic Republic celebrated the launch of its “Noor-2” which on paper was supposed to protect its military defenses. According to military analysts, the Islamic Republic can count on approximately 600,000 soldiers and 350,000 reserves, for a total of almost one million units. A small part of them, around 25,000 soldiers, are those responsible for bases and missile operations who operate on a number of effectors estimated at around two thousand. Those that Trump and Netanyahu intend to destroy in the next three weeks.
