Bombing campaign
Starting in July 1940, the Italian bombing of the British Mandate of Palestine was primarily centered on Tel Aviv and Haifa. However, many other coastal towns such as Acre and Jaffa also suffered. [2] [3]
The last Italian bombing on the territories of the British Mandate of Palestine occurred in June 1941. Haifa and Tel Aviv were hit, but with little damage and few casualties.
Bombing of Haifa
Haifa was hit many times by the Italians, targeting the port and refinery, starting in June 1940. The 29 July 1940 issue of Time reported a bombing at Haifa by SM82 bombers during the previous week, with a dozen casualties. The Italians claimed a huge success which the British did not deny.
Where the British oil pipeline from Mosul reaches tidewater, "Ten big Italian bombers, flying at great altitude from the Dodecanese Islands, giving the British bases at Cyprus a wide berth, dropped 50 bombs on the Haifa oil terminal and refinery." The bombing started fires which burned for many days afterwards, and the refinery's production was blocked for nearly one month. British fighters from a base on Mount Carmel were too late to overtake the Italians returning to their base in Italian Dodecanese. [4]
Bombing of Tel Aviv
On 9 September 1940, a bombing raid on Tel Aviv caused 137 deaths. [5] There was another raid on Tel Aviv on 12 June 1941 with 13 deaths, done by the Italians [6] or by the French, based in Syria. [7]
Historian Alberto Rosselli [8] pinpointed that the bombing of Tel Aviv that killed 137 people was because the Italian bombers were on their way to the strategic port and refineries of Haifa, but were intercepted by British aircraft. Forced to go back, the Italians received orders to drop their bombs on the port of Tel Aviv, but in attempting to avoid the attacking British planes they dropped the bombs by mistake on a civilian area near the port.
The Royal Italian Air Force (RAI) was the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolished and the Kingdom of Italy became the Italian Republic, whereupon the name of the air force changed to Aeronautica Militare.
World War II (1939–1945) involved sustained strategic bombing of railways, harbours, cities, workers' and civilian housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory. Strategic bombing as a military strategy is distinct both from close air support of ground forces and from tactical air power. During World War II, many military strategists of air power believed that air forces could win major victories by attacking industrial and political infrastructure, rather than purely military targets. Strategic bombing often involved bombing areas inhabited by civilians, and some campaigns were deliberately designed to target civilian populations in order to terrorize them and disrupt their usual activities. International law at the outset of World War II did not specifically forbid the aerial bombardment of cities – despite the prior occurrence of such bombing during World War I (1914–1918), the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
The Battle of the Mediterranean was the name given to the naval campaign fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II, from 10 June 1940 to 2 May 1945.
The Syria–Lebanon campaign, also known as Operation Exporter, was the invasion of Syria and Lebanon in June and July 1941 by British Empire forces, during the Second World War.
The Fiat BR.20 Cicogna was a low-wing twin-engine medium bomber that was developed and manufactured by Italian aircraft company Fiat. It holds the distinction of being the first all-metal Italian bomber to enter service; at the time, it was regarded as one of the most modern medium bombers in the world.
An airraid of USAAF planes against Frascati, a historic town near Rome, Italy, was made on 8 September 1943. The target was the German General Headquarters for the Mediterranean zone (O.B.S.) and the Italian headquarters, scattered in buildings and villas near the town.
During World War II the Italian city of Naples suffered approximately 200 air raids by the Allies from 1940 to 1944; only Milan was attacked more frequently. Almost all of the attacks — a total of 181 — were launched in the first nine months of 1943 before the Four days of Naples and the Allied occupation of the city at the beginning of October. Estimates of civilian casualties vary between 20,000 and 25,000 killed.
The Corpo Aereo Italiano, or CAI, was an expeditionary force from the Italian Regia Aeronautica that participated in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz in the final months of 1940 during World War II. The CAI supported the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and flew against the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA). The CAI achieved limited success during its brief existence, but it was generally hampered by the inadequacy of its equipment.
The Reggiane Re.2002 Ariete ("Ram") was an Italian fighter-bomber developed during World War II. The aircraft was a further development of the Re.2000, with some of the modifications that already had been introduced in the Re.2001. The aircraft was mainly used by the Regia Aeronautica, but it also saw limited use with the German Luftwaffe, who used it against the French resistance.
A successful paramilitary campaign, sometimes referred to as the Palestine Emergency, was carried out by Zionist underground groups against British rule in Mandatory Palestine from 1944 to 1948. The tensions between the Zionist underground and the British mandatory authorities rose from 1938 and intensified with the publication of the White Paper of 1939. The Paper outlined new government policies to place further restrictions on Jewish immigration and land purchases, and declared the intention of giving independence to Palestine, with an Arab majority, within ten years. Though World War II brought relative calm, tensions again escalated into an armed struggle towards the end of the war, when it became clear that the Axis powers were close to defeat.
BAZAN Group,, formerly Oil Refineries Ltd., is an oil refining and petrochemicals company located in Haifa Bay, Israel. It operates the largest oil refinery in the country. ORL has a total oil refining capacity of approximately 9.8 million tons of crude oil per year with a Nelson complexity index of 9. ORL provides a variety of products used in industrial operations, agriculture and transportation. ORL is Israel's largest integrated refining and petrochemical facility. The company also provides storage and transportation services for oil fuel products, as well as electricity and steam to industrial customers in the region.
The bombing of Bahrain in World War II was part of an effort by the Italian Royal Air Force to strike at the British interests wherever possible in the Middle East. While the mission caused little damage, it was successful in forcing the diversion of already-limited Allied resources to an obscure theater originally thought to be safe.
Events in the year 1947 in the British Mandate of Palestine.
Economy of Mandatory Palestine refers to the economy and financial development of the British Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and 1948.
The bombing of Cagliari was a series of attacks by the United States Army Air Force and the Royal Air Force on the Italian city of Cagliari, the regional capital of Sardinia, during World War II. The raids, aimed at destroying the port facilities and airfields of Cagliari, also resulted in the destruction of most of the city.
During World War II the Italian city of Palermo, the regional capital and largest city of Sicily, was heavily bombed by both the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force.
During World War II, Tuscany, the Italian port city of Livorno was repeatedly bombed by the Allied air forces, suffering about a hundred raids altogether, which resulted in it being among the most war-damaged cities in Italy.
Kalathos Airfield or Gadurra Airfield was a military airport built by the Royal Italian Air Force during their occupation of Dodecanese in the 1930s.
British Cyprus was bombed by the Axis powers on several occasions during World War II. The island was weakly defended against aerial attack. It had no anti-aircraft artillery and very few aircraft. The main threat came from the Italian Dodecanese. In April 1935, late during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, the islands were inspected by General Pietro Pinna Parpaglia, who proposed creating airfields capable of supporting offensive operations in the eastern Mediterranean. On 1 March 1937, the Comando Aeronautica dell'Egeo was formed on the islands.
Italy 
