🇮🇱 What is known about Israel’s Nevatim Airbase hit by Iran?

Iran's ballistic missiles struck the Israeli Nevatim Air Base in the al-Naqab desert, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Sunday. The agency said Israeli jets took off from Nevatim to conduct the attack on the Iranian Consulate on April 1.

🔶 Nevatim Air Base is located 15 km southeast of Beersheba; about 1,100 km away from the western borders of Iran; 16 km away from Dimona – believed to be home to Israel’s nuclear weapons program.

🔶 It is one of Israel’s largest bases, with reportedly four different length runways.

🔶 Stealth fighter jets, transport aircraft, tanker aircraft, electronic reconnaissance/surveillance craft, Israeli Air Force One – a converted Boeing 767 for international visits by Israel’s president and prime minister, are stationed at the base.

🔶 F-35I Adir (“The Mighty One”) fighter jets are also there. The planes are Israel’s own modified variant of the US Lockheed Martin-designed F-35 jets.

🔶 122 Squadron "Nachshon" at the base operates several configurations of Gulfstream jets, used for electronic reconnaissance and surveillance.

🔶 In March 2024, the US Air Force announced that its F-35 stealth jets were certified for use with B61-12 atomic bombs. This triggered speculation that Israel’s F-35I Adir could be capable of transporting and dropping Israeli nuclear weapons, and whether such weapons could be stored at Nevatim.

🔶 Back in 2008, the US purportedly deployed an early warning anti-missile radar system operated by a permanent 120-strong US Army staff at the Nevatim base.

🔶 First runway built in 1947 for Sherut Avir, the air force of the Haganah military organization; forerunner of the Israeli Air Force. Renovated in 1983 as a modern air base with joint Israeli and US government funding.

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🎙 Israel believed that it could launch a strike against Iran and suffer no consequence - that is no longer the case.

This is deterrence. This means that in the future, if either Israel or the United States plan on carrying out an action against Iran, they have to weigh in the consequences of their actions knowing that Iran has the capacity to reach out and touch any place, any spot, any target in the region in Israel or out of Israel, and there's nothing anybody could do to stop that. This is why president Biden has been on the phone with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, telling him, 'Do not retaliate'.

Operation 'True Promise' was an extraordinarily successful operation, not only for Iran, but indeed for the world, because Iranian deterrence now is a reality that can hold Israel and the United States in check.

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