Israeli air base attacked by Iran suffers only minor damage - IDF spox

IDF spokeswoman Masha Michelson spoke in a comment to Ukrinform.

"The Israeli Air Force, together with our strategic partner countries, successfully intercepted dozens of aerial threats launched from Iran towards Israel. The IAF deployed dozens of aircraft into the sky on an aerial defense mission to protect the country's skies, and successfully intercepted unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) and cruise missiles," the spokeswoman said.

Of the hundreds of launches, only a few missiles crossed into Israel, Michelson added, acknowledging that there was minor damage to the infrastructure at the Nevatim Air Base.

In particular, the strikes caused “only minor damage to infrastructure at the Nevatim Airbase near the runway and to a road in the Hermon area”.

"The functionality of the Nevatim Airbase was not affected, aircraft continued to take off and fulfill their defense and offense missions - even during the night, and throughout the day," the IDF spokeswoman said.

Michelson said the IDF would not comment on the issue, particularly on plans for military action in response to a massive attack by Iran, noting that "IDF soldiers deployed in all arenas are prepared and are continuing to defend the State of Israel."

Also, questions remained unanswered on how the data on the percentage of missiles and drones shot down outside Israel's airspace met the expectations from the military command, as well as on the attitude of the Israeli authorities to the calls of international leaders for restraint and de-escalation in the region.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, last weekend, Iran launched a massive strike on Israel. The IDF said Iranian forces had fired more than 300 missiles and drones, 99% of which were intercepted by air defense forces.

Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog called Iran's air attack a declaration of war.

On April 14, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, called for an immediate de-escalation in the Middle East after Iran launched a massive drone and missile attack on Israel on Saturday.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, said that Ukraine considers the cooperation between Israel and its allies to be very successful in repelling an Iranian missile and drone barrage, and also asked its partners to provide the capabilities required to counter Russian missile strikes.