Israeli Media: ‘Hundreds of Iranian Drones’ Destroyed in Drone Attack on Base in Kermanshah
Israeli media, citing “various Lebanese and Israeli sources,” claim that in a drone attack several weeks ago on one of Iran’s sensitive military facilities in Kermanshah province, “hundreds of Iranian drones were destroyed.”
On the evening of December 16, a large number of citizens living in several western Iranian cities reported on social media hearing multiple explosion sounds and “drone interception fire,” but the Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, wrote quoting an “informed source from the armed forces” that “the main source of the heard sound was lightning and thunder in the western region of the country.”
However, several weeks later, Kata’ib Hezbollah Iraq, one of the Iranian-backed paramilitary groups, announced on March 14 in a statement that in recent weeks Israel “bombarded Iranian airspace with unmanned aircraft from Iraqi territory.”
Simultaneously, Al-Mayadeen television network, a Lebanese media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Republic, also reported on this attack, citing “reliable sources,” saying that “on February 3 of this year, 6 Israeli drones, guided from a base in Erbil, conducted sabotage operations against a military base in Kermanshah.”
Now the Israeli Jerusalem Post newspaper reports in a recent article that the reason for the recent intense verbal war between Iran and Israel may be Israeli attacks on Iranian military facilities, during which, according to Israeli and Lebanese sources, hundreds of Iranian drones were destroyed.
Reuters News Agency in late February for the first time published news of a fire at one of Iran’s military bases in the western part of the country based on a report from a news agency close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. The report made no mention of drone destruction, but according to Israeli media, this base may have been where drones were stationed that were destroyed in the Israeli attack.
Noor News Agency reported at that time: “On Monday morning, a fire broke out due to the ignition of engine oil and other flammable materials in a warehouse at one of the IRGC support bases in Mahallati located in Kermanshah province, and as a result, part of this industrial shed was damaged.”
That report, with no mention whatsoever of drone storage at the base, stated that firefighting and rescue units were dispatched to the scene and specialized teams entered the base to investigate the causes of the fire.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz also confirmed the news on Tuesday and published more details about it, and subsequently other Israeli media outlets covered the story with additional details.
During a ballistic missile attack on Saturday night, March 2, 12 ballistic missiles were fired at Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the attack.
Groups affiliated with the Islamic Republic subsequently reported that this action was carried out “in retaliation” for the Israeli drone attack on the base in Kermanshah in recent weeks.
In its latest report, the Jerusalem Post newspaper has written about these reports from Iranian-affiliated media: “If we place the missile attack on Erbil alongside the extensive cyber attacks on Monday night on the internet networks of several Israeli ministries and government bodies, we conclude that the Israeli attack on military facilities in western Iran was so severe and significant that the Iranian government decided to retaliate openly and on a very broad scale.”
According to this newspaper, “simultaneously, Iranian media published more details about the Iranian government’s claims regarding Mossad agents’ attempts to kidnap one of the employees of the Fordow enrichment facility. Although these reports may be fabricated, the volume and accuracy of details published about this incident is very strange and bears great similarity to the previous claims about Mossad’s attempts to infiltrate Iran’s nuclear facilities through supply channels.”
Jerusalem Post adds: “Some Iranian media outlets described Mossad’s past successful attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists in great detail in their reports. Considering that the Iranian government has never claimed complete success in countering Israeli espionage operations, it appears that the purpose of Iranian media in including details of Mossad’s past attacks is to give a documented and reasoned appearance to their claims about recent attacks.”
Source: Radio Farda
