Since the Vietnam War and the Korean War, U.S. bases had not been targeted by another country until yesterday events.
During the Vietnam War, there were more than 450 attacks on U.S. Air Force bases, killing about 155 American military personnel and wounding around 1,700. These attacks destroyed 75 aircraft and damaged another 900.
In Korea, on June 25, 1950 (the start of the invasion), North Korean aircraft attacked Kimpo airfield, destroying at least one American C-54 aircraft on the ground.
On June 27, there were further North Korean air attacks against Kimpo and Suwon (another airfield used by the U.S./UN), including strafing runs that damaged American aircraft.
These were the last times U.S. bases were attacked by another nation-state until the events of today. Since then, attacks have primarily come from insurgents, such as those in Iraq.
Iran’s attacks targeted at least 6–8 American bases in the region (including confirmed strikes on Bahrain and Qatar, destroying infrastructures valued in several billions and making operations at these bases highly risky.
At this moment, Israel in coordination with the U.S. are conducting waves of attacks on Iranian territory, with missiles launched from Iraqi territory, without directly challenging Iranian airspace, targeting military installations, nuclear facilities, command centers, and political figures.
Israeli drones are monitoring and targeting some Iranian launchers, but this effort is incapable of completely preventing launches. Iran operates hundreds of mobile launchers and more than a thousand missile silos, according to intelligence sources.
The wave of assassinations in Iran didn’t seem to disrupt the attacks yesterday; quite the opposite. It appears to me that the Iranians had already anticipated this possibility and have established lines of succession in place.
The war will be long, and the trend is for Iranian attacks to focus on increasingly distant bases, while Israel and the U.S. are expected to hit hundreds of targets in Iran in the coming days, trying to inhibit the Iranian capabilities.
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