Did Israel's Iron Dome withstand Iran's rocket salvo? How missile defense system intercepted missile barrage...and what could happen if it fails

A vindictive Iran past nighttime sought to onslaught astatine the bosom of Israel with a shocking onslaught that saw an unprecedented barrage of astir 200 ballistic missiles streak towards Israeli cities. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran 'has made a large mistake' and 'will pay' for the attack, with Israel's subject preparing a 'significant retaliation' to the bombardment that could spot if onslaught atomic facilities and lipid fields. 

It's unclear however galore of the missiles really penetrated Israel's defences, with the standard of the onslaught proving to beryllium 1 of the biggest tests ever faced by the country's hi-tech Iron Dome network.

A triumphant Tehran has claimed up to 80 per cent of its missiles ripped done Israel's blase aerial defences - but the IDF disputed this, saying astir were changeable down, with the assistance of US warships successful the region.

Dramatic footage from the aerial battle showed missiles streaking done the sky, with immoderate exploding mid-air aft being deed by Israeli aerial defence missiles - portion others were seen slamming into the crushed and blowing up.  

And arsenic the fallout of past night's raid continues to clear, amid fears a retaliatory onslaught could ignite 'all-out war' successful the Middle East, defence experts person said Israel's aerial defences were broadly palmy successful protecting the country. 

'If this is the champion [Iran] tin do, past Israel volition chalk this up arsenic yet different victory. Yes, different humiliation for Tehran,' defence adept Michael Clarke said. 

Israeli officials person not reported immoderate superior injuries arsenic a effect of Tuesday's aerial attacks, but Israeli medics said 2 radical had been somewhat wounded by shrapnel. 

Israel's Iron Dome strategy garners the astir attraction of the country's aerial defences arsenic it's used astir often to bring down unguided, short-range rockets often fired by Hezbollah and Hamas. 

However, the country's aerial defences are made of 3 captious 'overlapping' systems that tin blast threats retired of the skies astatine antithetic ranges. 

The targeting of guided ballistic missiles that question astatine higher altitudes, longer ranges and faster speeds requires a antithetic strategy from the Iron Dome to instrumentality them down.   

For this, Israel uses some 'David's Sling 'and the 'Arrow 2 and 3' home-grown aerial defence systems which are built to destruct medium-range and long-range ballistic missiles.

Defence adept Prof Clarke said Iran's daze onslaught was seeking to effort and 'overwhelm' Israeli defences - and was a measurement up from Tehran's past onslaught connected April 13 erstwhile much than 300 projectiles were fired and mostly repelled. 

He said TV pictures indicated a 'fairly fierce, benignant of missile, counter-missile artillery battle' supra Jerusalem and different cities. 

Although immoderate missiles appeared to breach Israeli defences, Prof Clarke said this could person been a deliberate determination by the IDF to 'let go' the missiles that weren't deemed a large threat. 

Describing the Iron Dome and it's effectiveness, helium told Sky News: 'It's truly important to recognize erstwhile we're trying to talk astir however efficaciously the Iron Dome – Israel's defence strategy works.

'What they bash is they way incoming missiles and if they deliberation that the rocket is going to onshore successful a spot that doesn't substance they conscionable fto it go.

'There's nary constituent successful utilizing a precise costly aerial defence rocket against thing that is going to autumn into the mediate of the desert.

'The full of the Iron Dome strategy is built connected a precise blase monitoring strategy and they enactment retired which missiles they request to intercept and which missiles they conscionable fto go.

'And truthful erstwhile the Iranians claims 'lots of missiles person landed' immoderate of them astir apt volition person – but immoderate of them volition person astir apt landed successful the mediate of obscurity and the Israelis volition person conscionable fto them go.'

He said ballistic missiles were 'much much predictable than cruise missiles', which weren't utilized past night.

Cruise missiles person the quality to beryllium guided towards their people and were 'harder to predict' wherever they would land, Prof Clarke said. 

'It whitethorn beryllium programmed to dodge astir and spell connected a decoy and crook backmost astir and truthful connected earlier it reaches it’s target.

‘So you don’t truly cognize [where it volition land] and you’ve got nary prime but to sprout cruise missiles down if you can.

‘But ballistic missiles – the benignant that the Iranians are utilizing which are astir surely variations of the Fateh-110 which they developed galore years agone – lone pain for possibly 30 oregon 40 seconds, and past they’re connected axenic ballistics.

‘So erstwhile the take-off has been detected – and they’re casual to observe connected take-off due to the fact that they’re dilatory and blistery and person a precise large signature.' 

Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence strategy has been dubbed 1 of the champion successful the world, and according to its developer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, is '90 per cent effective'.

The three-part, multi-billion lb Iron Dome system, developed by Israel with US backing aft the 2006 Lebanon War, has been important successful defending Israeli cities for implicit a decennary and is credited with preventing superior harm oregon casualties.

Similar tactics person besides been utilized by Russia to blast Ukraine's flurry of Western and Soviet-era surface-to-air systems.

The Jewish authorities has astatine slightest 10 rocket batteries susceptible of intercepting force rockets and missiles scattered crossed the country.

The instrumentality is made up of 3 main sections: a radar detection system, a machine to cipher the incoming rocket's trajectory, and a launcher that fires interceptors if the rocket is deemed apt to deed a built-up oregon strategical area.

Each Iron Dome artillery consists of 3 to 4 launchers that tin each transportation up to 20 Tamir interceptor missiles.

Commodore Stephen Prest, a retired Royal Navy Commodore who has worked arsenic portion of a bearer conflict group, believed Israel targeted missiles that posed a high-threat to Israeli civilians and subject HQs.

But helium told MailOnline: 'These are not trivial problems.

'Ballistic missiles has an up-and-over trajectory whereas cruise missiles alert similar a tiny accelerated airplane.

'Ballistic missiles motorboat up similar a abstraction rocket, they volition perchance exit the ambiance and travel backmost down. There volition beryllium immoderate guidance erstwhile backmost successful the ambiance connected getting backmost connected to target.

'But it’s the velocity they travel down with that makes them overmuch much hard to people coming down.'

Cmdr Prest suspected that Israel opted to instrumentality retired the missiles that posed the biggest menace to civilian populations oregon subject HQs.

He added: 'In general, that’s however aerial defence deals with thing called menace valuation and limb allocation. You look astatine each imaginable threats coming successful and priotise them and allocate the due effector.

'You past see wherever you deliberation it apt the people and missiles are going to land. If you’re successful a vessel and person missiles coming successful and going adjacent wherever adjacent the task unit you wouldn't discarded your munitions of those. You’d usage those connected the top menace – that's those missiles which are targeting the high-value targets similar craft carriers.

'If you’re defending populated areas oregon subject installation you attraction acold little astir the ones that aren’t portion of this.'

The portion is edging person to all-out warfare that is already drafting successful allies connected some sides - with British jets utilized to antagonistic Iran's strikes, which were fired successful retaliation to attacks connected the Islamic Republic's Hezbollah allies successful Lebanon successful caller days.

Reports suggest Israel, which has vowed to onslaught 'powerfully' successful effect to Iran , could spell aft the country's lipid facilities.

Iran is the 3rd biggest shaper of crude lipid successful the OPEC radical of oil-producing countries and is heavy reliant connected its lipid and state exports to prop up its ailing system amid years of sanctions.

Former Israeli Intelligence authoritative and determination expert Avi Melamed told MailOnline the Iranian onslaught was apt to 'provoke a important counterstrike', informing that 'Israel's effect this clip volition apt beryllium broader and little restrained than it was successful the aftermath of Iran's unprecedented nonstop onslaught successful April.'

But Iran's equipped forces associated main of unit Gen. Mohammad Bagheri said this greeting that the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) was prepared some defensively and offensively to repetition its rocket onslaught with 'multiplied intensity', should Israel question retribution.

'If the Zionist regime, that has gone insane, is not contained by America and Europe and intends to proceed specified crimes oregon bash thing against our sovereignty oregon territorial integrity, tonight's cognition volition beryllium repeated with overmuch higher magnitude and we volition deed each their infrastructure,' helium said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi besides declared that Tehran had warned the US 'to retreat from this substance and not to intervene'.

But the US has vowed to basal with its determination state Israel, with nationalist information advisor Jake Sullivan telling reporters astatine the White House: 'We person made wide that determination volition beryllium consequences, terrible consequences, for this attack, and we volition enactment with Israel to marque that the case.'

Meanwhile, Israel's ongoing subject operations person continued uninterrupted - astatine slightest 5 airstrikes reportedly deed the confederate suburbs of Beirut aboriginal this morning.

More than 1,000 radical person been killed successful Israeli strikes successful Lebanon since September 17, portion hundreds of thousands of radical person been forced to fly their homes.

And Israeli strikes killed astatine slightest 32 radical successful confederate Gaza overnight arsenic the subject launched crushed operations successful the hard-hit metropolis of Khan Younis.

Israel has continued to onslaught what it says are militant targets crossed Gaza astir a twelvemonth aft Hamas' October 7 onslaught ignited the war, adjacent arsenic attraction has shifted to Lebanon and increasing tensions with Iran.