Ya'alon: Israel capable of attacking Iran
Former IDF chief says technology has improved range, aerial refuelling, accuracy, and intelligence
Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Monday Israel has the technological capabilty to make a military strike against Iran.
Addressing a conference on air power, Yaalon said Israel's experience in carrying out air strikes against terrorists along its borders could easily be extended to distant sorties in Iran.
"There is no doubt that the technological capabilities, which improved in recent years, have improved range and aerial refuelling capabilities, and have brought about a massive improvement in the accuracy or ordnance and intelligence," he said.
"This capability can be used for a war on terror in Gaza, for a war in the face of rockets from Lebanon, for war on the conventional Syrian army, and also for war on a peripheral state like Iran," said Yaalon, a former IDF chief of staff.
In his address at the Fisher Institute for Air & Space Strategic Studies, Yaalon posited air strikes to "decapitate or blind" an enemy by targeting its leadership or early-warning defenses.
"As far as I'm concerned, attack remains the best form of defense," he said.
Israel sees itself at a de facto war with Iran due to its sponsorship of Hezbollah and Hamas, Yaalon said. "There is no doubt, looking at the overall situation, that we are already in a military confrontation with Iran," he said. "Iran is the main motivator of those attacking us."
Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981 and is suspected to have launched a similar sortie over Syria in 2007.
State leaders have spoken of leaving all options on the table in addressing the question of possible military action against Iran, but some independent analysts see the potential targets as too distant, dispersed and well-defended for Israeli jets to take on alone.
