air campaign

Mr Bronk said that Russia's increased stockpiles, coupled with "significant reductions" in supply of US interceptor missiles had encouraged Moscow to escalate its air campaign.

At the same time, the Israeli military launched an all-out air campaign to destroy Assad-era materiel it feared could be used against it in a future conflict.

The IDF said in a separate English statement that it had killed the Radwan Force's commanders in September 2024 - when it launched an intense air campaign against Hezbollah and invaded southern Lebanon - and that since then the unit had been "operating to re-establish its capabilities".

More than 860 Palestinians were reported killed by Israeli forces in Gaza during the Israel-Iran conflict, which began when Israel launched an air campaign targeting Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

At least nine other senior Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated by Israel since the start of the air campaign, according to the Israeli military.