The Times of Israel reported late yesterday that the Israeli military says it has almost completed bombing all of the targets it defined for itself at the start of the conflict, and has now been ordered by Israel’s political leadership to shift to hitting “economic” targets of the Iranian government.
On Saturday, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that “within a few days” the military would complete targeting all of the “critical” assets of Iran’s military production industries, sites used to develop weapons that threaten Israel. “Israel’s defense establishment is now in what it described as the ‘completion phase’ of the goals it set out at the start of the war, meaning it believes it has largely achieved its objectives of degrading Iran’s military capabilities and ‘creating the conditions’ for the Iranian regime to fall... although,” ToI adds later, “it still remains unclear when, or if, the Iranian population will rise up against its oppressive government.”
The Iranians would dispute that the U.S./Israeli war machine is striking only military targets. “As the US and Israel boast of the military success of their bombing campaign in Iran, ordinary Iranians describe a very different reality—one defined by profound losses,” Middle East Eye reported from a correspondent in Iran. “The war has wrought destruction, relentless fear, financial ruin and the sudden collapse of years of hard work.”
To cite just one of several eyewitness accounts in the report: A 40-year-old shop owner in Tehran named only as Ahmadreza ran a small optical store until an air strike destroyed everything he had worked for. “My entire life savings are gone,” he told MEE. “Everything I had built over the years just disappeared in seconds.” Ahmadreza estimates his losses at around 150 billion rials, roughly $100,000. “All the glasses I had imported burned,” he said. “Now I am left with nothing but a pile of checks I have no idea how to pay.”
Ahmadreza said there were no military sites near his shop, leaving him struggling to understand why the area had been targeted. “No base, no police station, nothing,” he said. “This was just a commercial area, a place where people came to buy glasses.” His voice turned bitter. “They [the U.S. and Israel] said they were bringing us freedom. Is this what freedom looks like?”
