IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eitan Ben Eliyahu, a former commander of the Israel Air Force (IAF), spoke at the 2024 Jerusalem Post Miami Summit the day after Israel carried out wide-ranging airstrikes in Syria, destroying 80% of the former Assad regime’s military. Describing the complexity Israel faced in striking hundreds of attacks in Syria, he said, “In air operations, you distinguish between three different types of targets.” He described mobile targets as those that are stable or stay in one place. Ben Eliyahu also discussed the challenges the IAF faces in dealing with targets like the ones in Syria.
“It was very important to take advantage of the circumstances of that day,” he said, adding that a raid like the one Israel did in Syria would have taken long preparation in terms of training for striking certain targets that have existed for years.
Air Force intelligence
Ben Eliyahu, who served as the 13th commander of the IAF in the 1990s, was born in Jerusalem in 1944. He said he felt at home speaking to the audience in Miami.
He spoke with Channel 12’s US correspondent Yuna Leibzon at the summit. Describing the complex system used to destroy a large number of targets in a short period, he said the IAF uses artificial intelligence, one the new technologies available to the Israeli military.
“For many years, the relevant threat came from close to the border,” he said, contrasting Israel’s threats decades ago, with the Iranian threat that is more than 1,000 miles away.
This has created the need for a “presence in space,” he said. “You have to develop new weapons that are specifically for use for such a range. Don’t forget that in such a range you have to cross a number of countries.”Ben Eliyahu said this requires cooperation not only with those countries but also with the US. Long-range operations require forces for communication, rescue, electronic warfare, and refueling, he said. The IAF has developed these capabilities in recent decades.
Ben Eliyahu also discussed the IAF’s response to the October 7 massacre. “What we have to do is change the level of readiness, because mistakes like that happened to us as a nation twice – one in 1973 and a second time on October 7,” he said, adding that we need to build our forces and have a level of readiness to block such a surprise attack.