LONDON, April 17. /TASS/. Israel's air defenses can become saturated if Iran and its allies launch a large number of drones and missiles, Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, said.

"The drone and missile threat from Tehran ought not to be downplayed," the Financial Times newspaper quoted him as saying. "Volleys of rockets interspersed with precision-guided missiles from Hezbollah could still saturate Israeli defenses, especially if part of a surprise attack…·[and if] another direct launch came from Tehran," he added.

Iran has the region’s largest arsenal of ballistic missiles, estimated to number in the low thousands, the expert noted.

Franz-Stefan Gady, an associate fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, in turn, pointed out that on April 13, "Israel defended itself under ideal conditions <...> when it faced a one-time punitive strike." "The real danger for Israel is that its air defenses become saturated during a sustained war… ·that is, if it faces a large number of aerial attacks, over very short intervals, which eventually overwhelm every kind of air defense system," he said. "Even Israel would then sooner or later deplete its stocks," the expert added.

On the evening of April 13, Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel in response to what it called "repeated crimes," including an attack on the consular office of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus. Tehran said that that attack targeted Israel’s military facilities. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed it intercepted 99% of the nearly 350 Iranian projectiles launched at Israel, saying that minor damage had been caused to Nevatim Air Base.