As Israel and Iran continue to attack each other, the risk grows each day of the conflict spreading to the wider Middle East region. There are also fears that the war could yet turn nuclear, even though Iran has yet to make its own atomic bomb.
Iranian General Mohsen Rezae warned Israel that Pakistan would retaliate on behalf of Tehran, if Benjamin Netanyahu decided to launch a nuclear strike. “Pakistan has assured us that if Israel uses a nuclear bomb on Iran, they will attack Israel with a nuclear bomb,” he said on Iranian TV.
Below the Express takes a look at the relative strengths of the militaries in the Middle East, as the region braces for further turmoil.
Turkey’s military is the strongest one in the region, according to a list made by the GlobalFirepower (GFP) website. GFP uses 60 factors to determine a given nation’s Power Index (PwrIndx) score.
Turkey has a Power Index score of 0.1902 and is followed by Israel (0.2661), Iran (0.3048), Egypt (0.3427) and Saudi Arabia (0.4201).
Turkey is, in fact, one of the top 10 global military powers and has the second-largest standing army in NATO, with a large active and reserve force.
Its military boasts 400,000 active personnel with a total of 775,000 including reserves.
Turkey also possesses a notable navy, and a growing air force, with a strong emphasis on modernisation and domestic defence industry development.
Iran holds the advantage over Israel when it comes to the number of soldiers, according to figures from the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Tehran has 610,000 active personnel and 350,000 reservists, while Israel can muster 169,500 active personnel and a bigger number of reservists at 465,500.
Yet Israel clearly has a better-equipped army and air force, as it is currently demonstrating. Israel uses a range of sophisticated fighter jets, including 39 of the US-made Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The F-35s are a formidable weapon, and can penetrate radar defences without being detected.
The country’s military is also in possession of 196 F-16 and 75 F-15 fighter jets, with speeds varying between 1,976 km and 3,097km per hour.
For its part, Iran has around 180 Russian-made fighter jets – much older and lacking maintenance, due to Western sanctions. Tehran tries to compensate for its air force weakness through its drones and ballistic missiles.
These include the Shahed 136 drone, and various missile systems such as the Emad, Khorramshahr-4 and Fattah. Their ranges varying between 1,400 km and 2,500 km, thus reaching anywhere in Israel.
The latest addition to the Fattah includes hypersonic missiles, which are difficult to intercept and which Iran has used in its attacks on Israeli cities.
Iran’s stockpile of these ballistic missiles is estimated at between 2,000 and 3,000 and is reportedly producing between 300 and 500 of them every month.
