Israel is set to enter the second phase of its campaign against Iran, targeting ballistic missile sites buried deep underground. The goal is to neutralize Tehran’s ability to launch aerial attacks as the war enters its second week.
Tel Aviv – Israel’s war in Iran is entering a critical second phase that will see its fighter jets targeting ballistic missile sites buried deep underground, two sources familiar with the military campaign told Reuters on Thursday.
The joint air assault with the United States is nearing the end of its first week, after opening salvos killed Iran’s top leadership and triggered a regional war involving Iranian attacks on Israel, Gulf states, and Iraq, alongside Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
Targeting the Bunkers
The second phase will focus on bunkers storing ballistic missiles and equipment hidden deep underground, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject.
One source stated that Israel aims to neutralize Iran’s ability to launch aerial attacks against Israel by the end of the war, which is also focused on dismantling the Islamic Republic’s leadership structure.
The Israeli military has not formally commented on its attack plans, but in a statement on Thursday, it confirmed that the Air Force struck “an underground infrastructure site used by the Iranian regime to store ballistic missiles and storage sites for missiles intended for use against aircraft.”
According to a review of public statements since Saturday, this marks the first confirmation of attacks on underground missile facilities.
The Missile Calculus
Estimates of Iran’s missile stockpile vary widely:
- Israeli military estimate: Roughly 2,500 before the war
- Other analysts: Approximately 6,000
The extent of what remains could prove critical to the war’s trajectory. Tehran has continued to carry out missile attacks on Israel and across the region.
Douglas Barrie of the UK-based International Institute for Strategic Studies noted that the think tank assesses Iran still possesses land-attack cruise missiles—precision-guided weapons that fly low to evade radar detection.
Multi-Front Operations
Israeli Air Force fighter jets have carried out near-constant sorties since Saturday, accelerating further after Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel, drawing heavy Israeli airstrikes as far north as Beirut.
In some cases, the same Israeli warplanes have struck both Iran and Lebanon in single operations: bombing targets in Tehran or western Iran on the outbound leg, and striking Hezbollah sites on the return, according to one source familiar with the plans and an Israeli security source.
Degradation Strategy
Israeli and US officials report that ballistic missile and drone launches from Iran have declined since Saturday—a decrease attributed in part to US and Israeli strikes on Iranian launch sites and related military infrastructure.
The Israeli military suggested the decrease could also reflect an effort by Tehran to preserve its missile stocks as it prepares for a drawn-out war of attrition.
Eran Lerman, a former Israeli deputy national security adviser, offered a sobering assessment of the campaign’s progress.
“The hope from the initial week of strikes was that Iran’s ruling system would begin to disintegrate earlier, more quickly,” Lerman said. “But this has yet to happen and as long as it doesn’t, the system needs to be further and further degraded.”
What’s Next
As the war enters its second week, the focus will shift to these underground facilities—the most hardened and strategically significant components of Iran’s military infrastructure. The success or failure of this second phase could determine whether the conflict grinds into a prolonged war of attrition or achieves a decisive outcome.
