148: Chapter 148 Judah Deploys Warplanes to Launch Airstrikes on Southern Syria

While Lieutenant General Green arranged for his own fighter jets to conduct airstrikes against Syria, he also submitted a request to the Israeli military, hoping that Israel would dispatch fighter jets to launch airstrikes on the southern region of Syria.

After all, the number of fighter jets currently available to Lieutenant General Green was insufficient to allow him to bomb Syria's northern military bases and facilities, while also arranging for additional aircraft to conduct bombings in the southern region of Syria.

The only solution was to have Israel dispatch fighter jets to launch airstrikes on the southern region of Syria. As for mobilizing the USA's fighter jets stationed in Iraq, Bahrain, and other locations, that was simply beyond Lieutenant General Green's authority.

Only General Maitang of the US Central Command could authorize such a mobilization, but if that were to happen, the scale of the war would expand rapidly, and the situation would no longer be something General Maitang could control.

Without authorization, General Maitang was likewise unable to mobilize a large number of fighter jets to participate in the war in Syria, and could at most send a few additional fighter jets to reinforce Lieutenant General Green.

Tel Nof Airbase.

Colonel Yoni soon received an order from the upper echelons of the Israeli military, requiring him to dispatch no fewer than 10 fighter jets to execute an airstrike mission in the southern region of Syria. As for the flight path for the airstrike, Colonel Yoni was to decide that himself.

Colonel Yoni was somewhat resistant to this order. When it came to bombing the southern region of Syria, shouldn't Palmachim Airbase be closer? Why was he being asked to carry out such a mission?

However, since the military high command had already issued the order, there was simply no room for Colonel Yoni to object, so he had no choice but to obediently carry out the airstrike mission.

Arranging the fighter jets was easy; using the F-15 Eagle fighter jets and F-16 Fighter Jets from Tel Nof Airbase would suffice, and there was no issue with the quantity—there were more than enough for 10 jets.

However, the flight route for the airstrike was not easy to plan. Colonel Yoni immediately rejected the idea of crossing the border between Israel and Jordan directly to enter the southern region of Syria from Jordan.

After losing a drone last time, Tel Nof Airbase had conducted several probes and discovered that Jordan was equipped with quite a few anti-aircraft missiles. If they were to cross the Jordanian border like that, it was highly likely that several fighter jets would be shot down by Jordan, which was completely unacceptable.

Entering the southern region of Syria from the Golan Heights was also rejected by Colonel Yoni. If the Golan Heights were safe, the mission would not have been assigned to Tel Nof Airbase, but rather to Palmachim Airbase.

It seemed the only option was to take off from Tel Nof Airbase, detour through Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and then enter the southern region of Syria.

Iraq was still under the influence of the USA, so passing through Iraqi airspace should be fine; however, Colonel Yoni could not guarantee whether passing through Saudi Arabia would provoke an attack from them.

Colonel Yoni felt that this was the only flight route that could be considered barely safe; all other routes had varying degrees of danger.

He quickly formulated the airstrike plan and reported it to the upper echelons of the Israeli military. The Israeli high command approved it without even looking at the details. They only needed Colonel Yoni to complete the mission to provide an explanation to the USA.

Colonel Yoni arranged the fighter jets for the mission, and soon 12 F-15 Eagle fighter jets and F-16 Fighter Jets took off from Tel Nof Airbase and headed toward the Red Sea.

After flying over the Red Sea, the pilots carefully maneuvered their jets into Saudi Arabian airspace, flying over the border between Saudi Arabia and Jordan, disguising themselves as Jordanian fighter jets in an attempt to evade Saudi Arabia's radar monitoring.

Saudi Arabia soon received intelligence from their border troops that more than a dozen fighter jets had appeared over the border between Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and they inquired whether they should take proactive countermeasures.

After seeing the intelligence, Major General Faye did not immediately order the border troops to launch the "Tianlei" Series Anti-Aircraft Missile to shoot them down. He ordered the border troops to strengthen reconnaissance; if they were Jordanian fighter jets, they should just be driven away, and if they were fighter jets from another country, they were to report back to him.

The Israeli pilots were thus able to fly the first half of the journey without interference, but after flying halfway, anti-aircraft missiles began to appear in the sky; although they were not directly targeting the Israeli fighter jets, the warning was very strong.

This was because the border troops had already observed that these aircraft were F-15 Eagle fighter jets and F-16 Fighter Jets, which could not possibly be Jordanian fighter jets. And besides the USA, the only other country that possessed F-15 Eagle fighter jets and F-16 Fighter Jets was Israel.

After Major General Faye urgently reported to General Hadi, General Hadi did not intend to escalate relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, so he finally only agreed to let Major General Faye launch the "Tianlei" Series Anti-Aircraft Missile as a warning, while simultaneously dispatching fighter jets to expel the Israeli aircraft.

Major General Faye had no choice but to execute General Hadi's order, commanding the border troops to launch three "Tianlei" Type III Anti-Aircraft Missiles toward the Israeli fighter jets, detonating the self-destruct sequence before they hit the aircraft.

The self-detonating anti-aircraft missiles caused a certain amount of shockwave to some of the Israeli fighter jets, but because they evaded in time, they did not suffer any major damage. However, this still left the pilots in a cold sweat.

Some pilots proposed aborting the airstrike mission and returning to Israel, but this was quickly rejected by the commanding officer leading the formation, who intended to continue and complete the airstrike mission.

At this moment, Saudi Arabian fighter jets also flew near the Israeli fighter jets and issued a warning to the Israeli aircraft, demanding that they leave Saudi Arabian airspace immediately, or else they would launch missiles to shoot them down.

Seeing this situation, the commanding officer had no choice but to order all pilots to increase their flight speed to exit Saudi Arabian airspace as quickly as possible, and not to pass through Saudi Arabian airspace on the return trip.

Fortunately, they were almost out of Saudi Arabian airspace, and soon the fighter jets entered Iraqi airspace. It was only when the Israeli fighter jets were about to leave that Iraq discovered there were enemy aircraft invading.

But Iraq currently had neither advanced anti-aircraft missiles nor advanced fighter jets, so they could only watch helplessly as the Israeli fighter jets swaggered through Iraqi airspace and entered the southern region of Syria.

Seeing that the flight, although perilous, was ultimately safe, the commanding officer felt relieved. As long as they finished bombing the selected military bases and facilities in the southern region of Syria, they could immediately return to Israel.

As the 12 F-15 Eagle fighter jets and F-16 Fighter Jets split into four bombing formations to head toward their respective targets, the presence of Israeli fighter jets soon appeared in the southern region of Syria.

Having just entered the Syrian region, they were still within the sphere of influence of the USA and did not encounter any attacks. However, as the bombing formations approached the Syrian military bases and facilities, they soon discovered that something was amiss.