Ben Gurion Airport is expected to remain open even if fighting with Iran resumes, Channel 14 reported.
According to the report, the unprecedented decision is based on intelligence and operational assessments indicating the dramatic erosion of Iran’s missile-launch capabilities.
The report states that “the reason is the dramatic drop in Iran’s launch capacity: Operation Rising Lion opened with barrages of around 100 missiles, while Operation Roaring Lion began with barrages of dozens. But now the assessment is that Iran cannot launch large-scale barrages of more than a few missiles — perhaps ten or fifteen at most, but no more.”
These updated figures allow senior defense officials to consider an entirely different operational model from what was used in the past. “Unlike previous rounds of fighting, when the airport was closed immediately at the start of the campaign, this time Israel is considering keeping its gateway to the world open,” the report states.
The new approach reflects strong confidence in the IDF’s air‑defense capabilities and in the extensive depletion of Iran’s missile stockpiles and launch systems, reducing the immediate threat to central Israel’s runways.
As a result, Ben-Gurion is expected to continue operating, though security officials stressed that the decision will be continuously reassessed based on developments on the ground.
Israeli airlines are expected to continue operating flights, although most foreign carriers that recently resumed service to Israel will likely suspend flights again if war resumes.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
This seems a little interesting.
Every indication I’ve seen makes me believe that Iran has dug out their missile cities that were sequestered in the early days of the war by having their entrances bombed in.
I don’t know what that means for operational tempo, but the public facing intelligence reports made it sound like roughly half of the Iranian TELs (missile launchers) were trapped in those tunnels.
My number one concern for this cease-fire was that the Iranians would be able to dig out those launchers because that becomes a massive hurdle to negotiations.
There have definitely been open source intelligence reports showing the Iranians digging out those tunnels.
The question in my mind is whether this is bravado, posting, or an indication that they have on what Iran‘s renewed capabilities are.
But if the thought process is as simple as “the first time around they were able to get off so many missiles at a shot and the second time around, they were able to get off fewer missiles at a shot and at the end of the most recent round, they’ve only been able to get off a few at a time, so we’re probably fine to keep the airport at full operational tempo“, that would be full-fledged idiocy.
So in short, we don’t know what they know, we barely know what we do and don’t know, but we do know that the way they are expressing this decision is lunacy.