WSJ: Israel Intercepted Only 50% Of Ballistic Missiles, The Rest Crashed Or Didn’t Launch

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A Wall Street Journal article claimed that Israel had not intercepted all of the ballistic missiles launched by Iran, but rather about 50% of them, since the rest either crashed en route or failed to launch.

Citing US intelligence officials, the newspaper said that roughly 50% of the ballistic missiles fired by Iran had failed to reach their target.

U.S. officials said that Iran launched between 115 and 130 ballistic missiles that targeted Israel. When asked for more details about those strikes, the officials acknowledged that only about half of them were intercepted successfully. The rest failed in flight and didn’t reach their targets, the officials said.

“So much for the vaunted ballistic-missile capability of Iran,” said a U.S. official.

The success of Israel in rebuffing the Iranian attacks was due to a combination of Israel’s sophisticated air-defense system and critical assistance provided by the U.S. and other Western and Arab partners, according to the Wall Street Journal. American, British and Jordanian warplanes played an especially important role in downing drones. Most of the Iranian drones and missiles were destroyed before they even reached Israeli airspace.

Additionally, Israel benefited from intelligence it received from its Arab neighbors regarding the timing and nature of the attack it faced. This intelligence enabled the various forces to coordinate efforts and destroy all of the Iranian weapons.