Israel army says destroyed 'one third' of Iran missile sites

Israel's military on Monday said it had destroyed one third of Iran's surface-to-surface missile launchers, as strikes between the two arch foes raged for a fourth day.

Since the start of Israeli operations against Iran on Friday, "more than 120 missile launchers -- constituting one third of the Iranian regime's total launchers -- have been destroyed," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a statement.

Overnight, around 50 fighter jets and aircraft had "identified and struck missile storage sites, (and) surface-to-surface missile launchers that were ready for launch toward the state of Israel," the statement added.

In one instance, more than 20 surface-to-surface missiles were destroyed as they were being prepared for launch in central Iran, where missile-launching infrastructure is focused, the military said.

During a press conference, Defrin also said that Israel now had "total air superiority in the skies over Tehran".

Iran unleashed a missile barrage on Israeli cities Monday after Israeli strikes deep inside the Islamic republic.

The strikes on Iranian missile sites "helped reduce the number of missiles fired at Israel by half, limiting the barrage to fewer than 50 missiles", an Israeli military official said on condition of anonymity.

Agence France-Press