Said Amori
16 March 2026•Update: 16 March 2026
JERUSALEM
The war against Iran is not advancing at the pace initially set by Israel at the start of military operations, Israeli security sources said Sunday.
According to Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, unnamed security officials said the opening strike of the military campaign was “better than expected,” but the war has not progressed at the pace envisioned at the outset.
A reassessment of the war’s objectives may be necessary, the sources added.
The sources also indicated that one of the challenges facing Israel is the difficulty of prompting large numbers of Iranians to take to the streets in protest against the government, something some Israeli assessments had said could occur during the war.
They claimed that the US and Israel are planning additional steps in Iran that could influence the trajectory of the war in the coming period.
In an earlier statement, the Israeli army said that one of the main objectives of the air force during the early days of the war was to achieve “air superiority” over Iranian skies.
The Israeli military also claimed that around 100 air defense systems and 120 radar detection systems inside Iran had been destroyed, while Iran launched roughly 360 missiles toward Israel during the first two weeks of the war, which began on Feb. 28.
It further claimed that around 70% of Iran’s missile launch platforms had been put out of service as a result of airstrikes.
According to the military, operations have targeted roughly 2,200 sites linked to Iranian security and military institutions, including facilities belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as well as government and security institutions.
The US and Israel have continued a joint attack on Iran since Feb. 28, killing around 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel along with Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries, which it says are targeting US military assets, resulting in casualties and damage to some civilian infrastructure and affecting global markets and aviation.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul
