Iran Blames Israel for February Attack That Devastated Its Drone Fleet

Hundreds of drones were damaged in an attack on an airbase in western Iran last month, which Tehran blames on Israel, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday, citing a report the previous day by the Lebanese television station Al Mayadeen. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the attack. The attack on Iran’s drone fleet is the reason for the Iranian missile attack near the US Consulate in Irbil in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, according to the Lebanese tv report. Iran had claimed responsibility for that attack, saying that it was targeting two “strategic centers” of Israel’s Mossad security agency. The Al Mayadeen report said that on February 14, six Israeli drones were launched from the heart of Iraqi Kurdistan and targeted a camp in Iranian Kermanshah, adding that “as a result of Israeli aggression, Iran bore significant losses.” It said the target of Iran’s weekend retaliatory attack was a major Israeli operations center in Iraq from which the drones in the February attack were launched and that at least four Israeli officers were killed.