Since the war started last Saturday with Israeli and American strikes on command centers and military targets in Iran, the Iranian regime has only targeted mass civilian population centers, according to a high ranking IDF official.
‘’They’re doing it on purpose. You can see it if you look at where their missiles are landing, where they’re targeting it, you can even see it from the Home Front Command,’’ says Lieutenant-Colonel Nadav Shoshani, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson for international media, based on recently declassified information.
Speaking on Monday to European and American journaists, at a special online briefing organized by Europe Israel Press Association (EIPA) and American Mideast Press Association (AMEPA) on Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury, he said that ‘’we have seen this before the war and in recent days. They are targeting the center of mass populations as a strategy. This is the strategy of the Iranian regime.’’
‘’They are firing towards big cities, understanding that even if you miss whatever you’re targeting, there’s another residential building nearby. When you shoot it at an area that has a lot of houses, you’re going to hit a house if it’s not intercepted and that’s what they want. They also want to terrorize us when people run to the shelters all the time. But also they know our values, that we care for human life and they want to generate as many casualties as they can in Israel and it doesn’t even matter if it’s a military target or not.’’
He mentioned that in the 12 Days War (in June 2025) ‘’we had over 30 people killed, all of them civilans. One soldier was killed but he wasn’t on duty, he was at home with his family when he was killed.’’
The same this time. Nine civilians have been killed when a ballistic missile fired from Iran struck a shelter in a residential neighborhood of Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem. In Tel Aviv, a woman was killed when a missile hit a group of houses in the city center.
‘’We saw that last June, we saw it now. Sadly over 40 people were killed in in in both wars. None of them were soldiers,’’ Shoshani said.
“Even if you have 80, 90 percent interception, still some ballistic missiles will hit,” he added, noting that the Iranian regime had in the beginning of operations more than 2,000 ballistic missiles at its disposal as they have regenerated hundreds of ballistic missiles since the war in June.
The IDF spokesperson also praised the ‘’amazing’’ coordination between the U.S. and Israel. ‘’The IDF has never in our history had such an intimate coordination with a foreign army, with another nation.’’ ‘’The Americans are saying the same, from the IDF Chief of General Staff speaking to his American counterpart General Dan Kane and Centcom chief General Brad Cooper and all the way down to the pilots being able to speak among themselves, sharing very intimate intelligence, relevant forces speaking in real time with our representatives in our bases, a deep connection and a deep sharing of everything that’s happening.’’
”It begins with the joint purpose and the shared values and and continues with the operational planning all the way down to the most tactical levels,” he added.
”I believe this is a huge part of the amazing results we’re seeing so far,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Shoshani.