Israel says it has flown more than 5,700 missions against Iran‑linked targets

Airpower is the story here. Not a single strike, but the scale of a campaign Israel wants everyone to notice. In mid-March, Israeli officials and military-linked reporting put the air force at more than 5,700 sorties over Iran-linked targets, with roughly 12,000 bombs dropped and no Israeli aircraft publicly acknowledged lost in the operation so far. That is a huge number for a country Israel’s size — and the point of releasing it is pretty obvious. Israel is saying it can keep flying deep, keep hitting, and keep doing it at a tempo Iran has struggled to stop. (jpost.com) ### What does the 5,700 number actually mean? A sortie is one aircraft mission, not one bomb and not one target. So 5,700 sorties means repeated waves of aircraft going out, refueling, striking, suppressing defenses, escorting, and coming back. The same March breakdown said Israel sent 540 fighter waves into central and western Iran and another 50 into more distant parts of t(jpost.com)opening raid. (jpost.com) ### How big is that in practical terms? The same figures put the bomb count at around 12,000, including 3,600 in the Tehran region alone. One senior air force official’s line was basically that Israel flew in 18 days what it would normally fly in a year. Even allowing for wartime messaging, that tells you the campaign was not narrow. It was sustained, dense, and aimed at multiple layers of Iran’s military system at once. (jpost.com) ### What was Israel trying to hit? Early reporting on the campaign described strikes on ballistic-missile launchers, air-defense systems, command centers, defense-industry sites, and other regime infrastructure. U.S. and Israeli reporting in the first days of the operation said nearly 2,000 targets had already been struck across Iran, with later Israeli tallies going much hig(jpost.com)tation play. It was a broad air offensive against the machinery that lets Iran threaten Israel and project force. (abcnews.com) ### Why emphasize that no jets were lost? Because that is the real brag. Long-range strike campaigns are hard enough. Doing them over defended territory without publicly confirmed pilot losses is the part meant to impress allies, deter enemies, and reassure Israelis. Outside analysis of the campaign also stressed the lack of confirmed U.S. or(abcnews.com)e catch is that “no publicly confirmed losses” is narrower than “zero damage or close calls.” Still, as a public message, it is potent. (fdd.org) ### Why release these numbers now? Because numbers shape perception. Israel is trying to show that this was not symbolic retaliation but a repeatable military capability. A figure like 5,700 sorties says endurance. A figure like 12,000 bombs says mass. And pairing those with no publicly acknowledged jet losses says Iran’s air defenses did not impo(fdd.org)ong nonstate groups watching how much freedom Israeli aircraft can buy. (jpost.com) ### Does this settle the bigger war? No — air campaigns rarely do by themselves. They can wreck launchers, blind radars, kill commanders, and create room for diplomacy or escalation. But they do not automatically produce political control. The more useful way to read the 5,700 figure is as evidence that Israel crossed into a different kind of contest with Iran — not occasiona(jpost.com)aign. (abcnews.com) ### So what’s the bottom line? The headline number is really a strategic message in numeric form. Israel wants rivals to believe it can reach deep into Iran, do it repeatedly, and survive the trip. Whether that translates into lasting deterrence is a different question — but the scale alone marks a break from the old, more ambiguous shadow-war pattern. (jpost.com)