325

U.S., Not Israel, Shot Down Most Iran Drones and Missiles (theintercept.com)

submitted 8 months ago by Linkerbaan@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

133 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The United States shot down more drones and missiles than Israel did on Saturday night during Iran’s attack, The Intercept can report.

More than half of Iran’s weapons were destroyed by U.S. aircraft and missiles before they ever reached Israel. In fact, by commanding a multinational air defense operation and scrambling American fighter jets, this was a U.S. military triumph.

The extent of the U.S. military operation is unbeknownst to the American public, but the Pentagon coordinated a multination, regionwide defense extending from northern Iraq to the southern Persian Gulf on Saturday. During the operation, the U.S., U.K., France, and Jordan all shot down the majority of Iranian drones and missiles. In fact, where U.S. aircraft originated from has not been officially announced, an omission that has been repeated by the mainstream media. Additionally, the role of Saudi Arabia is unclear, both as a base for the United States and in terms of any actions by the Saudi military.

“U.S. intelligence estimates that half of the weapons fired by Iran failed upon launch or in flight due to technical issues,” a U.S. Air Force senior officer told The Intercept. Of the remaining 160 or so, the U.S. shot down the majority, the officer said. The officer was granted anonymity to speak about sensitive operational matters.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 79 points 8 months ago

I don’t know if this ventures into conspiracy theory territory or not but in real time, I thought the Iranians had essentially told the U.S. what was coming and to prepare for it because Iran wanted a show and to test Israel’s air defense systems without provoking a war.

When it happened, one of my friends was like, “Great. World War III.” And I said I didn’t think so because Iran announced that they had launched it all as they launched it all. You don’t announce, “Here come some bombs!” to the media when your goal is having them actually land.

[-] andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 90 points 8 months ago

That's not conspiratorial thinking at all, that's just geopolitical literacy. Your assessment is correct: Iran planned this carefully to avoid causing any major damage. This was pro wrestling.

Which honestly makes it sad to consider that Iran has become the more restrained, rational actor here. The US needs to put Netanyahu on a short leash. He is not worth this.

[-] APassenger@lemmy.world 32 points 7 months ago

I suspect Netanyahu wants a Trump presidency. I don't expect him to do Biden any favors - quite the opposite, really.

[-] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 15 points 7 months ago

This. The "Genocide Joe" cohort doesn't realize they are falling right into Netanyahu and Trump's plan. I mean, at least the small number of them who aren't propagandists in the first place.

[-] machinin@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

I would hold my nose to vote for Biden if my vote really counted, but I will still call him genocide Joe. If he continues down this path, I hope he is forever known as Genocide Joe. Let history know it.

[-] metaldream@sopuli.xyz 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

They don’t give a shit because the genocide is already in progress. Also these people are very real, real enough to make an impact on the primaries. You liberals really just can’t help but constantly condescend to anyone who doesn’t do what you want them to.

It’s hilarious watching liberals try to blame their campaign failures on “Russian bots”. It’s always someone else’s fault

[-] fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee 4 points 7 months ago

Netanyahu and Trump

And the Kremlin, and the CCP.

load more comments (19 replies)

[-] aStonedSanta@lemm.ee 8 points 8 months ago

This was millions and millions of tax payer dollars spent for “pro wrestling”. Damn that’s sad. 😆

[-] neo@feddit.de 4 points 7 months ago

I wouldn't call it a wrestling show, but an attempt to prevent two smoking drunks from a bar fight by enabling them to save face. Also the bar is covered in burnable liquor and we are all standing in it while the doors are shut.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

The main point to announce it was so they would get shot down. If they had reached their targets that would be a war they would lose very quickly. This way no harm was done. But now the people in charge in Iran can tell everyone in the country look how we attacked the bad people. Kind of like when north Korea talks a bunch of shit to everyone then launches a missile to no where. They can brag about it in country how they almost fucked up Japan and no one is the wiser because the only news coming in is things they ban see internally. Iranians saw the missles and drones leave their airspace then get told lies about what happened.

[-] Belastend@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

They did the same thing back when you guys turned Qassem "Kotlett" Soleimani into a fine paste. Announcing an air strike, notifying the target in advance and declare victory. Noone was killed in their retaliatory attack.

While the Mullahs have fucked up Iran beyond recognition, their handling of crises like this is pretty good.

[-] Rookwood@lemmy.world 78 points 8 months ago

That's a lot of money we're spending because of Netanyahu's crazed bloodlust.

[-] nexusband@lemmy.world 57 points 8 months ago

You could be spending it in Ukraine.

[-] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 7 months ago

Hell, we may even be able to make Americans life better at home. Would be an easy way to get votes, but both parties know only a small handful of swing states decide the election, so why bother making things better when we can just spend billions in ads in five states.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 29 points 7 months ago

...aight so fuck Israel in a "your genocide is abhorrent and you don't deserve any support from anyone" kind of way, but if we're going to support a genocidal ethnostate anyway, at least we're doing it in a way that stops civilians from betting blown up, as opposed to handing them half a military's worth of bombs for them to drop on other civilians.

Now that that's taken care of, could we maybe take the we're planning on sending over to Israel for them to do even more genocide with, and send them to Ukraine or something so they can fight against genocide instead?

[-] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 10 points 7 months ago

Jordan shot down a lot. Jordan has roughly as many Palestinians as Gaza.

[-] Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

Jordan directly not really. The American bases in Jordan shot down the drones.

The Jordanian monarchy is heavily corrupt and bribed by America. They receive billions in weapons and bribes to suppress their population and turn the country into an American outpost near Syria and Iraq. Last year they got $1,619,118,868

A prime example was the Tower22 base that got bombed in the beginning of this year

Currently there are massive protests in Jordan against their regime.

[-] venusaur@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Apparently the drones were aimed at military targets only, unlike Israel’s attack on the embassy.

load more comments (5 replies)

[-] bartolomeo@suppo.fi 29 points 7 months ago

Israel: bombs a diplomatic target without warning

Iran: bombs 2 military targets with warning

USA: shoots down most of the assets that made it even close to Israel

Biden: Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “Israel really came out far ahead in this exchange”

I wonder what game they're playing.

[-] Natanael@slrpnk.net 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Netanyahu is trying to stay out of prison, like Trump, so he needs conflict but not too much (losing support from his right wing coalition wounds end him) to seem strong and as a distraction and for political points. Iran doesn't want war but doesn't want to look weak and want to make a point to not let Israel think there won't be consequences, they can't just do nothing at all. Biden doesn't want war in the region and he's focused on negotiations to calm everybody down, preventing escalation. If Iran had hit something important it almost certainly would've escalated to war.

[-] badbytes@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago

Not happy paying taxes to support this.

[-] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 28 points 7 months ago

Shooting down Iranian dron3s and misses should not be your breaking point lol. This was the most justifiable action that has taken place since this shitshow started shitting.

[-] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 15 points 7 months ago

It's not the breaking point (that was long ago), but it's not justifiable either. Protecting Israel no matter what crimes they commit has led us into a genocide. This merely demonstrates that the US could have protected Gazans from Israeli bombs but chose not to.

[-] nandeEbisu@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

They were firing at military targets because Israel assassinated one of their generals. If Israel wants to start a war with Iran while they have their hands full with Gaza and Lebanon that's their perogative but the US shouldn't be enabling this insanity.

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] capem@startrek.website 16 points 7 months ago

Tax dollars hard at work.

[-] doingthestuff@lemmy.world 26 points 7 months ago

Saving lives is one of the few things I support our tax dollars being used for.

[-] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago

Healthcare, here, for our people please

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (10 replies)

[-] bradorsomething@ttrpg.network 14 points 7 months ago

Avoid those freedom potholes with pride, citizen.

[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 8 points 8 months ago

The Iron Dome is looking pretty rusty... I wonder how much Likud diverted to private accounts in the Caymans.

[-] HuddaBudda@kbin.social 19 points 8 months ago

That's the real story at the bottom of this mess.

Israel was warned about the attack a month before it happened.
4 billion dollars in US funding that was supposed to go to Israeli defense somehow didn't work.
US is having to privately ship weapons to Israel behind congress and senate approval.

[-] MysticDaedra@fedia.io 12 points 8 months ago

The Iron Dome only protects against short-range rockets. Israel's Arrow and Arrow II Endospheric and Exospheric anti-missile defense systems are what most of the missiles that were intercepted by Israel were shot down with.

load more comments (9 replies)

[-] mlg@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

mfw Israel is so well situated with the USA that they had an entire coalition force come to their aid for a tit for tat return strike

[-] Microw@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago

What is more likely?

UK, France and Jordan want to protect Israel (who has the most capable air defense systems in the region)
UK, France and Jordan hate Iran and want to counter an Iranian military operation that could destabilize the region further; and also gain momentum for pressuring Israel for concessions

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 4 points 7 months ago

Do Houthi missiles count as Yemen or Iranian?

load more comments (4 replies)

load more comments

this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024

325 points (93.3% liked)

World News

39276 readers

1573 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.