Nearly two months after practicing to hit an Israeli Air Force (IsAF) base that hosts its F-35 Lightning II fighters with ballistic missiles, Iran finally attacked the IsAF military base in its ‘retaliatory strikes.’

Assessments of Iran’s missile attacks vary. While some say that it was completely unsuccessful since all projectiles were shot down, others point out that Iran never planned material and military damage, with a view to prevent a wider war. 

According to US media reports, five Iranian missiles struck Israel’s Nevatim Airbase, damaging the main runway, a C-130 transport aircraft, and several storage facilities.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said in a speech – “The Iranian military operation against Israel was limited and aimed at squadrons of F-35 aircraft. The Israeli attack on our consulate violates international laws and treaties, and we will not hesitate to defend our interests in the face of any attack.”

Tensions between the two countries had been high after Israel conducted an air strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, that killed a senior officer of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), among others. Reports said Israel used F-35 jets for this air raid. 

According to a report in the Times of Israel (TOI), the “main target of Iranian drones and missiles…appeared to be a sensitive air base in southern Israel, Nevatim, home to the F-35 stealth fighter jet, the military’s most advanced aircraft.”

According to IDF, all the drones and cruise missiles were downed outside of the country’s airspace by the Israeli Air Force and its allies, including the United States, United Kingdom, Jordan, France, and others – according to the IDF’s top spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

The drones had a flight time of multiple hours to reach Israel, and the cruise missiles similarly would have taken around more than an hour to reach their target, according to assessments by defense officials.

The ballistic missiles, however, have a much shorter flight time—around 10 minutes—and are more challenging to intercept. Some managed to evade Israel’s air defenses early Sunday.

The IDF said that the long-range Arrow air defense system knocked down the “vast majority” of the 120 ballistic missiles. The Arrow 3 system is designed to take out ballistic missiles while they are still outside the atmosphere.

“Unlike the drones and cruise missiles, the ballistic missiles were shot down over Israel,” the report added. It is not clear, however, if missiles were actually tracked or spotted heading towards Nevatim or fell in the air base’s vicinity after being shot down.

Iran ‘Simulated’ Striking Israeli F-35 Base Before

Late in February, Iran had “simulated” an attack on an Israeli air base operating F-35I fighters by firing its Emad and Qadr ballistic missiles. 

A clip from a news feature of the launch showed four to five truck-mounted road-mobile launchers rolling into position and firing the missiles. These trucks, appearing to be normal civilian carriers, would be difficult to identify as military targets from overhead satellites or drones.