The Head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate, Major General Shlomi Binder, declared during a visit to the Intelligence Directorate's Targeting Center on Wednesday that Israel's ongoing campaign is successfully transforming Iran from a distant strategic concern into an immediate and actionable threat.
“We struck the Quds Force very hard on the first night. This includes roughly 30 commanders; the names that were published are those of the more senior ones. But we’re talking about Chiefs of Staff and Air Force Commanders,” said Binder.
He added that earlier this week, the IDF targeted one of the Iranian regime's covert command centers located in mountainous terrain. “Some of the commanders managed to flee to a secondary location. Twelve hours later, we succeeded in striking the Chief of Staff of Khatam al-Anbiya, who had fled to the same secondary location in another mountain ridge in Tehran,” he noted.
Binder emphasized the importance of maintaining momentum, stating: “We need to hunt them down wherever they flee. And you are succeeding in turning Iran, as I said earlier, from some distant place, 1,500 kilometers from here, into an army that we know how to deal with, with the sense of it being a first-circle threat.”
He concluded by underlining the strategic necessity of the current military campaign: “Your ability to deliver high-value results in the coming days is integral. We need to deliver, increase the pace, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. Because this is the kind of threat that, I emphasize, the State of Israel cannot tolerate. Period. That’s the reason we launched this campaign, and that’s the reason you are working hard.”