U.S. forces shot down some 80 drones and at least six ballistic missiles to assist Israel in thwarting the Iranian assault early on Sunday morning, the U.S. Central Command announced.

“This includes a ballistic missile on its launcher vehicle and seven UAVs destroyed on the ground in Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen prior to their launch,” the statement read.

“Iran's continued unprecedented, malign, and reckless behavior endangers regional stability and the safety of U.S. and coalition forces. CENTCOM remains postured to support Israel’s defense against these dangerous actions by Iran. We will continue to work with all our regional partners to increase regional security,” CENTCOM added.

Along with U.S. forces, British and Jordanian fighter jets also helped the Israeli Air Force shoot down around 99% of the around 350 Iranian projectiles before they entered Israeli airspace.

The Iranian attack was among the largest in history and modeled after some of the Russian air assaults against Ukraine recently, which also used Iranian Shahed drones in combination with cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

On the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it launched an estimated 160-200 missiles, according to the Wall Street Journal. Another Russian barrage that year targeted Ukrainian infrastructure with 84 missiles and 24 drones.

According to a recent report by the Institute for the Study of War, the Iranian assault was intended to distract and overwhelm Israeli Air Defenses with slow-moving drones and cruise missiles, opening a window for the ballistic missiles to slip through and hit their targets.

The report suggested that the Iranians likely didn’t expect most of the cruise missiles and drones to hit their targets, but were disappointed that almost none of the ballistic missiles penetrated the air defenses.

While the Iranian regime likely expected Israel to be able to intercept a higher percentage than the Ukrainian air defenses, which averaged rates of around 46% during recent larger strikes, it probably didn’t expect an interception rate of 99%.

The only projectiles that hit their targets were five ballistic missiles that struck Israel’s Nevatim Airbase, damaging the main runway, a C-130 transport aircraft, and several storage facilities, an American source told ABC News.

Republished with permission from All Israel News.