Israel destroys Iranian Shahed-136 drone launchers

Israeli aviation has struck a group of Iranian long-range drone launchers on the territory of a hostile country.

Footage and details of the operation were published on the Israeli Defense Forces website.

For several days, Israeli army forces had been tracking the movement of a mobile group of Shahed-136 long-range drone carriers and, according to the military, hit them as they were preparing to launch into Israel.

The country’s air force released a video from the aircraft’s infrared optical station capturing the deployment of drone launchers and the destruction of several of them by precision strikes.

Notably, shortly thereafter, footage of burned vehicles in the same position as in the video appeared online, which had the appearance typical of launchers.

However, the video does not show any remains of drones inside the containers, which may indicate that they were hit after the UAVs were launched.

Iran commenced large-scale launches of long-range drones at Israel immediately after the first strikes as a result of Israel’s Operation Lion’s Nation on June 13.

The IAF actively uses fighter jets and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to intercept them. In particular, footage of an Israeli helicopter shooting down a drone with an onboard automatic cannon was released on June 17.

The day before, Israeli aircraft also struck the airport in Tehran, where Iranian F-14 Tomcat fighter jets were based.

The published footage shows the destruction of two aircraft using unidentified weapons, most likely small-caliber air bombs or air-to-ground guided missiles.

Also on June 15, Israeli aviation destroyed the only Iranian refueling aircraft, a Boeing 707-3J9C, which could refuel fighter jets in the air.