AhlulBayt News Agency: The zero hour of the Israeli-American war on Iran arrived on Saturday with the aggression on the highest political official of Iran and the religious leader of the world's Shiite Muslims Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei. This initiated a war the late leader had earlier warned will not remain limited to the Iranian borders and will expand to cover the whole West Asia region and will unleash fire to all the American positions and interests across the region. Now in the fourth day of war, it seems that Iran's strategy to respond to the aggressors is following a preplanned path. Here a question presents itself: While the Israeli-American attacks targeted the Iranian Defense Council’s meeting where top political and military leaders were present and martyred them in the first day of aggression, how is Iran advancing the war?
Decentralized command
One of Iran's strong points in the current war against the Israeli and American aggression is the adoption of the decentralized military command as it lost its top military and political commanders. In fact, although the process of replacing Iran's top military and political commanders took place immediately after the martyrdom of the minister of defense , the commander-in-chief of the IRGC, and other high-ranking officials on the first day of the war, the reality is that Iran's military command structure is not individual-reliant. Each military unit, in wartime and emergency conditions, has broad authority to respond to the enemies. The extensive powers granted to military commanders across different regions of Iran mean that even with the martyrdom of high-ranking commanders in Tehran, there has been no disruption in the efforts to counter enemy aggression and continue the war against the aggressors.
Decentralized response
Furthermore, decentralized military command allows the Iranian military personnel to strike American interests and military positions across the region from Sistan and Baluchestan in the east to Khuzestan in the southwest of the country independently. In other words, the decentralized command in the wartime conditions has given the military commanders in the provinces to respond to the enemy without hesitation. This enables the country's military structure to strike back with least casualties to own forces.
Asymmetrical attacks
It should also be noted that while the US claims superiority in military equipment for its war against Iran, the reality is that Iran employs asymmetric methods in responding to the aggressions of American forces. For instance, Iranian Shahed assault drones have successfully targeted American objectives in various locations, including Dubai, Erbil, Riyadh, and Kuwait, inflicting significant damage on American forces at a minimal cost to Iran. The damage inflicted on the US embassy in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, or the burning of the "Athens Nova" fuel ship, which supplied fuel to American military forces in the Sea of Oman, are examples of Iran's asymmetric responses to the costly and high-value targets of Washington and Tel Aviv.
What targets have already been damaged?
Interestingly, in the fourth day of war, Iran could provide a long list of American positions and assets damaged in its response. Here are some of these targets:
1. Central headquarters of the command of the US air force in Bahrain: During an early Tuesday attack, 20 drones and 3 missiles struck targets in this site, destroying the main building and the fuel storage. Smoke was reported by eyewitnesses rising from the base.
2. Attack on 160 terrorist American marines: The drone attack launched by the IRGC’s navy forces targeted a gathering of over 160 marines in Dubai. According to field reports, over 40 were killed and over 70 were injured.
3. 3 fighter jets and over 19 drones downed: In four days, at least 3 fighter jets and 19 American drones were hit. Kuwai's defense ministry confirmed downing of 3 warplanes.
4. US embassy in Saudi Arabia hit: Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya news network, citing Reuters, reported that the American embassy in Riyadh caught massive fire after an attack. Al Jazeera reported a drone attack on the complex in the Saudi capital.
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