On Saturday morning, as Jews across Israel were preparing for a quiet Shabbat, the air raid sirens that had been silent for months screamed back to life. This time, it was not a warning of incoming fire — it was Israel and the United States announcing to the world that they had struck Iran, hard, in a coordinated assault targeting the Islamic Republic’s military infrastructure, weapons programs, and the very men who have spent decades orchestrating terror against the Jewish people. Operation Aryeh Sho’eg — “Roaring Lion” — had begun.
Operation Roaring Lion
At 8:13 a.m. Saturday, sirens sounded across Israel. Within minutes, reports emerged of strikes across Iran — in Tehran and beyond, in all 24 of the country’s 31 provinces that would eventually report casualties by evening. The operation was a joint one: Israel named it Aryeh Sho’eg — “Roaring Lion.” Washington called its component “Epic Fury.” Cabinet ministers were told the operation was designed to last approximately one week.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who had spent the previous evening at home with his family to avoid tipping off Iranian intelligence, delivered a message to IAF pilots before the first wave: “Saturday dawn, Operation Roaring Lion begins — you are authorized to carry out (the mission), strike your targets — you are making history.”
The initial Israeli strikes reportedly targeted some 30 key regime leaders and military commanders. Among the confirmed killed: Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh. Also targeted were IRGC al-Quds Force chief Esmail Qaani, IRGC Air Force chief Majid Mousavi — the man who oversaw Iran’s ballistic missile attacks — and Iranian army chief Sayyid Abdolrahim Mousavi.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself was targeted. Israeli officials have been widely quoted suggesting he was likely killed. Satellite imagery has shown his compound largely destroyed. Channel 12 reported that Israel, in coordination with the US, dropped approximately 30 bombs on Khamenei’s compound, and that he was underground at the location — but not in the two deepest bunkers, which only American munitions could have penetrated. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi stated only that Khamenei is alive “as far as I know” — hardly a definitive denial. Israel’s Kan broadcaster reported indications that Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, widely seen as his heir apparent, was also killed.
US CENTCOM confirmed the joint nature of the operation, stating that “US and partner forces began striking targets at 1:15 am ET to dismantle the Iranian regime’s security apparatus.” Targets included IRGC command and control facilities, air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. The US struck by air and sea — including, for the first time in combat, low-cost one-way attack drones deployed by Task Force Scorpion Strike.
President Trump, in an eight-minute video statement, was blunt: “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally obliterated. We are going to annihilate their navy.” He called directly on members of the IRGC to lay down their weapons and accept full immunity — or “face certain death.” He told the Iranian people: “The hour of your freedom is at hand.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu said the operation was launched “to remove the existential threat” posed by Iran, and to “create the conditions” for Iranians to change their destiny.
Iran Strikes Back — and Falls Short
Iran’s response came fast but was far smaller than anything it launched in June 2025. As of Saturday evening, Iran had launched approximately 200 missiles and UAVs — a number that Tehran itself inflated to 1,200 in domestic media reports, a figure that bears the hallmarks of regime propaganda. The Jordanian military intercepted 49 UAVs and missiles on their own. The IDF shot down more than a dozen drones. Air defense systems intercepted the bulk of the ballistic missiles.
Of the approximately 150 ballistic missiles launched, military assessments indicated only 35 entered Israeli airspace, with the rest intercepted before reaching Israel’s borders. Some missiles were reportedly launched from Lebanese territory, though the IDF later denied that claim. The IDF said it remains on high alert for Hezbollah joining the fight and opening a new front from Lebanon.
Damage on the Israeli home front was limited. Missile shrapnel struck a 20-story building in Tirat Hacarmel, penetrating the 17th floor. One person was lightly injured. A direct hit was reported on a residential building in northern Israel. Magen David Adom treated 89 people total — the vast majority with minor injuries from falling while running to shelters, not from missile impacts. Six were treated for acute anxiety.
Millions of Israelis spent their Shabbat running in and out of bomb shelters as successive barrages triggered sirens across the country. Ben Gurion Airport suspended operations. Hospitals moved into emergency mode. Purim celebrations were canceled. Yet the country held together. In one Tel Aviv synagogue, the congregation continued tefillah — prayer — even as the sirens blared outside.
Iran also launched missiles at American military assets in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain. CENTCOM confirmed minimal damage to US installations and no American casualties.
The Iranian Red Crescent reported at least 201 killed and 747 wounded across Iran from the Israeli and American strikes by Saturday evening.
A History of Iranian Aggression Against Israel
Iran’s war against Israel did not begin this morning. It has been waged through proxies, ballistic missiles, drones, and terror financing for decades — and it escalated dramatically in the past two years.
On April 13, 2024, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory from Iranian soil, firing more than 300 ballistic missiles and attack drones at Israel. The assault was largely intercepted through a multilateral defense effort involving Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Jordan, and France. Iran claimed it was retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on its consulate in Damascus that killed senior IRGC commanders. Israel, together with its allies, intercepted the vast majority of the projectiles, and damage was minimal.
Six months later, on October 1, 2024, Iran launched a second direct attack — some 180 ballistic missiles fired at Israel, including powerful Fattah hypersonic missiles. Most were intercepted. Two Israelis were lightly wounded. Iran called it retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan.
Then came the June 2025 twelve-day war, in which Iran escalated dramatically — launching large barrages of dozens of missiles at a time in an attempt to overwhelm Israeli air defenses. That conflict ended in a ceasefire, but Iran used the months that followed not for diplomacy but for rearmament. The IDF reports that in the period leading up to this weekend’s operation, Iran had accelerated ballistic missile production to dozens per month, continued fortifying and concealing its nuclear program, and kept financing, training, and arming its proxies on Israel’s borders.
The Islamic Republic never stopped trying to destroy the Jewish state. It simply got more methodical about it.
The Purim Parallel
MK Avigdor Liberman said it plainly: “We overcame Haman, we will overcome Khamenei too.” He was not being poetic. Purim, the festival of Jewish deliverance from the Persian villain Haman who sought to annihilate the Jewish people, begins Monday evening. The timing is not lost on anyone paying attention.
What is unfolding in Iran today has the quality of that kind of moment. Iran has spent decades building an empire of terror designed for one purpose: the annihilation of the Jewish state. It armed Hezbollah. It funded Hamas. It launched four direct attacks on Israeli soil. It raced to build nuclear weapons while its officials openly announced their genocidal intentions. And now, on the Shabbat before Purim, the regime that swore to destroy Israel is watching its own military leadership be eliminated, its compounds reduced to rubble, and its people called to rise up and take their country back.
Iran Is Bombing Israel Again — Families Need Your Help Right Now
Iran has begun what may be its most devastating assault on Israeli soil. Ballistic missiles and drones are striking homes, apartment buildings, and neighborhoods across Israel — and families are hiding in safe rooms, praying the walls hold.
