149: Chapter 149: The air raid mission resulted in the direct loss of six fighter jets.

The pilots were surprised to discover that the bombing targets actually had anti-aircraft missile positions, and quite a few of them at that.

This sudden situation left the pilots at a loss for what to do. They immediately contacted Colonel Yoni and quickly received approval to change bombing targets, selecting ones with fewer anti-aircraft missile positions to strike instead.

The pilots breathed a sigh of relief. If they had forced an attack on military bases with anti-aircraft missile positions, they likely would have been targeted by those missiles, leading to losses and leaving the pilots feeling restricted and afraid to carry out the bombing.

The four bombing formations quickly locked onto their new targets, then flew directly over them to commence the bombing, with missile after missile and aerial bomb exploding across the Syria military bases.

Although the Syria military bases continued their counterattacks, most of the equipment they possessed were Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile Type II and Type III, which could not track the flight paths of the Israel fighter jets, and their range was also insufficient.

They fired more than ten anti-aircraft missiles, but in the end, they only managed to damage two Israel fighter jets and did not shoot down a single one.

General Faraj soon received intelligence from the southern region of Syria that more than ten Israel fighter jets had violated Syria airspace and bombed several Syria military bases, rendering them unusable.

This situation made General Faraj very angry, but upon hearing that the bases under attack were not particularly important and were lacking in Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile equipment, General Faraj ultimately had no choice but to accept it helplessly.

He ordered the Syria military to track the invading Israel fighter jets, predict their flight paths, and timely deploy Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile units for interception, striving to inflict as much damage as possible on the Israel fighter jets.

After completing their bombing mission, the Israel fighter jets immediately prepared to return. However, the pilots feared that if they continued along their original flight path, Saudi Arabia would not continue to allow their jets to leave so brazenly and would likely launch anti-aircraft missiles to attack them.

The pilots were also worried about withdrawing via the Golan Heights, as quite a few fighter jets had been lost there, and Syria and the Glass House had likely deployed many anti-aircraft missile positions in the Golan Heights; forcing their way through would result in significant losses.

In the end, they decided to detour through the northern region of Lebanon. The pilots did not believe that Lebanon had deployed anti-aircraft missiles in the northern region. As for the distance from the southern region of Syria to the northern region of Lebanon, the pilots felt that as long as they were fast enough, they shouldn't encounter any interception.

The pilots immediately made preparations, increased their flight speed, heightened their vigilance along the route, and headed straight for the northern region of Lebanon.

After detecting the flight path of the Israel fighter jets, Syria quickly determined their direction. Under the orders of General Faraj, an anti-aircraft interception line was quickly established in the area near eastern Lebanon.

The Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile units deployed in this area were activated one after another, readying for launch. Monitoring radars also closely tracked the movements of the Israel fighter jets.

As the Israel fighter jets appeared near Sadad, not far from the Lebanon border, the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile units of the anti-aircraft interception line moved quickly. The operating crews immediately began locking onto their respective targets, preparing to deal a fatal blow to the Israel fighter jets.

Seeing that they had flown safely along the way and were getting closer and closer to the Lebanon border, the Israel fighter jet pilots breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they entered Lebanon airspace, they would basically be safe. Even if they violated Lebanon airspace, Lebanon would not act rashly.

However, just as the pilots were relaxing, Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile units launched from several directions headed straight for the Israel fighter jets.

The alarm sounds in the Israel fighter jets went off one after another, leaving the pilots stunned. They were almost in Lebanon now; why was Syria only launching anti-aircraft missiles now? What kind of move was this?

The pilots hurriedly increased speed to try and escape, while simultaneously launching various flares and chaff to try and detonate the incoming anti-aircraft missiles. But it had no effect at all.

Two anti-aircraft missiles hit an F-16 Fighting Falcon, three anti-aircraft missiles simultaneously hit an F-15 Eagle fighter jet, and one anti-aircraft missile collided with and exploded against an F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Three Israel fighter jets were lost in an instant, and Syria did not stop launching anti-aircraft missiles at this time. Many more anti-aircraft missiles still detached from their launchers and headed straight for the Israel fighter jets.

The pilots hastily broke away, but in the end, another F-15 Eagle fighter jet was shot down, and one F-15 Eagle fighter jet and one F-16 Fighting Falcon were heavily damaged; although they did not crash, they were not far from being totaled.

After the Israel fighter jets hurriedly entered Lebanon airspace, the Syria anti-aircraft missiles did not pursue them, which finally let the pilots breathe a sigh of relief. They had no intention of lingering any longer, so they hurriedly flew across Lebanon airspace, entered the sea to the west of Lebanon, turned south, and returned to Israel.

Because two Israel fighter jets were severely damaged, they had to make an emergency landing at Harem Air Force Base and could not fly back to Tel Nof Airbase. The other six fighter jets flew back to Tel Nof Airbase in a sorry state.

When Colonel Yoni heard the pilots' report that they had been ambushed by Syria anti-aircraft missiles near the Lebanon border, resulting in four Israel fighter jets crashing and two being heavily damaged, his mind went blank and he felt dizzy.

This airstrike mission resulted in the direct loss of six fighter jets, reaching half the number of aircraft deployed for this mission. Such a loss was significant, and it was simply the most severe loss an airstrike mission had ever suffered for Tel Nof Airbase.

Colonel Yoni didn't know what to do and couldn't help but complain about the blind command of the Israel military high command. Without clarifying the anti-aircraft strength of Syria, they had hastily launched an airstrike on Syria, which caused such a huge loss.

The Israel military high command soon received the situation report from Tel Nof Airbase, and combined with the feedback from Harem Air Force Base, they also felt very surprised and distressed.

This was six fighter jets; the number of F-15 Eagle fighter jet and F-16 Fighting Falcon that Israel possessed was not particularly large, and losing six in a single airstrike mission was truly hard to accept.

The Israel military high command was very dissatisfied with the airstrike request made to them by Lieutenant General Gran. Without Lieutenant General Gran's blind demands, the Israel military would not have issued the airstrike order so rashly. But now, everything was irreversible.

The Israel military high command could only order Colonel Yoni to handle the aftermath, while simultaneously requiring all airbases to suspend all military actions against Syria.