Israel’s limited strikes targeting Iranian air defenses around energy facilities have made Iran more vulnerable to future attacks, experts say.
Israel’s recent attack on Iran’s air defense network was limited in its scope, but all the same left a significant opening.
Though Israel fell short of a major strike some feared, its attack over the weekend means Iran is more vulnerable to follow-up attacks should they come, according to experts on the region.
The long-anticipated attack was retaliation, almost a month later, for Iran launching ballistic missiles at Israel.
It is an unprecedented back-and-forth between two nations that used to do their fighting arm’s length.
Unnamed officials told The New York Times that the strikes specifically targeted air-defense systems around key energy sites, though not the sites themselves.
They are said to include the Bandar Imam Khomeini petrochemical complex and the Abadan oil refinery.
In a Sunday update, the Institute for the Study of War said the Israel Defense Forces struck and disabled parts of three or four sites guarded by the Russian-made S-300 air-defense systems.
The loss, it said, undermined Iran’s ability to counter future strikes.
