TEHRAN/JERUSALEM, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday it has hit an Israeli F-16 Fighting Falcon in the country's central airspace.
In a statement published on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC said the aircraft was struck at 03:45 a.m. local time (1215 GMT) by air defense systems of its Aerospace Division.
It added that the country's armed forces have successfully tracked and intercepted over 200 hostile aerial targets, including drones, cruise missiles, and fighter jets, since the war with the United States and Israel began late last month.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces said in a Saturday statement that it carried out a large-scale wave of strikes in Tehran overnight, targeting IRGC facilities producing critical components for ballistic missiles.
The strikes severely harmed Iran's ability to continue producing essential components for ballistic missiles, it said.
On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and U.S. bases and assets in the Middle East. ■
