The Israeli airstrike on Iran this week damaged a critical part of an air defense system at a military base that the Iranians use to protect the country’s key nuclear facilities, according to satellite imagery.
Images analyzed by experts found that the attack on the Eighth Shekari Air Base destroyed the “flap-lid” radar that the Russian-made S-300 air defense system uses to locate and track incoming enemy targets, The New York Times reported.
Iranian officials confirmed to the Times that the missiles struck the air defense system that is used to defend the area around Natanz, where Iran has its primary nuclear enrichment facility, and Isfahan, which is home to the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center (INTC), the country’s largest nuclear research complex that employs 3,000 scientists, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
Western intelligence officials said that the Israelis…
