'Ring of fire': Israel says it flipped Iran’s war doctrine; IDF vows unrelenting pace

Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), told Israel's intelligence officers on Thursday that the country had turned Iran’s “ring of fire” against them — a reference to alleged years of Iranian preparation for attacks on Israel.

"We are now turning the 'ring of fire' -- the sword that they built for years to attack us -- against them on their territory," Zamir told troops in the Intelligence Directorate.


He went on to praised their efforts and described the current operations as transformative. “What we are doing here is historic — we are changing the face of the Middle East,” he said, adding that their success was being closely watched around the world.

Zamir credited the team with “extraordinary capabilities,” calling them the people behind making the campaign possible.


"Every citizen of this country, and the whole world, is looking at you with admiration and respect. Everyone wants to learn how this happened, and I'm telling you, there are miracles, and those that make them happen are people, and in this case, those people are you."

The statement followed his visit to the IDF’s Targeting Center, where officials said major operations had recently been carried out against Iranian positions, reported Jerusalem Post.

Meanwhile, Major General Shlomi Binder said that the IDF struck Iran’s elite Quds Force heavily on the first night of operations. He said one covert headquarters in the mountains was destroyed, and hours later, another strike targeted the Chief of Staff of Khatam al-Anbiya — Iran’s main construction and engineering arm linked to its military — who had moved to a nearby location in Tehran.

"Two days ago, thanks to excellent work by the headquarters and command and control array, we struck one of the regime's covert headquarters in the mountains. Some of the commanders managed to flee to a secondary location. Twelve hours later, we succeeded in striking the Chief of Staff of Khatam al-Anbiya, who had fled to the same secondary location in another mountain ridge in Tehran," he said.

Binder said about 30 commanders had been targeted so far, with several senior names already made public. He stressed that the campaign would continue at full pace because Israel would not tolerate the threat.

"We need to deliver, increase the pace, and that's exactly what we're doing," he said. "Because this is the kind of threat that, I emphasise, the State of Israel cannot tolerate. Period. That's the reason we launched this campaign, and that's the reason you are working hard."