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Israel’s overnight strike on Iran was not solely one of the vital formidable aerial campaigns in current historical past, it was the results of years of covert planning, surveillance and infiltration by Israeli intelligence.
Whereas dozens of fighter jets bombed nuclear and military targets throughout Iran early Friday morning, the groundwork had lengthy been laid by Mossad brokers working in lockstep with the Israeli army.
Code-named “Am Kelavi” (Rising Lion), the preemptive operation was the product of unprecedented coordination between the Israeli air power, the Navy Intelligence Directorate, Mossad and the nation’s protection industries. For years, they labored “shoulder to shoulder” to assemble the intelligence information wanted to remove Iran’s most delicate army and nuclear belongings.
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A senior Israeli security official advised Fox Information Digital, “The Mossad labored with an enormous variety of individuals—a mass of brokers deep inside Iran, working on the highest stage of penetration possible. A few of these brokers had been retrained as commando fighters to hold out mission-critical operations.”
That work culminated in what the official described as a three-layered strike. “We eradicated huge areas of Iran’s surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missile infrastructure, a large variety of senior scientists, and huge parts of their air protection methods.”
“We established a drone base inside Iran, and at zero hour, Mossad operatives retrieved them from hiding spots. We positioned precision missiles on quite a few autos and embedded further missiles all through the nation, hidden inside rocks. We activated this whole array in exact coordination with the Israeli air power.”
Israeli jets launched simultaneous strikes on dozens of websites, together with Iran’s major uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. Situated 1,500 kilometers from Israeli territory, Natanz had lengthy been a important a part of Iran’s nuclear program. Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the Israeli Protection Forces spokesperson, described it as an underground compound containing multi-level centrifuge halls and electrical infrastructure.
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“We inflicted vital harm on this web site,” Defrin stated. “This facility was utilized by the IRGC to advance Iran’s challenge for buying nuclear weapons.”
Avner Golov, vice chairman of the Thoughts Israel assume tank, advised Fox Information Digital, “The largest success was hitting the Natanz facility and neutralizing Iran’s first wave of retaliation—the automated response.
Smoke rises after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, on Friday, June 13, 2025. Israel attacked Iran’s capital early Friday with explosions booming throughout Tehran. (AP Photograph/Vahid Salemi)
“We took out their opening transfer—the ballistic missiles that had been meant to launch instantly, and the drones that had been already on the best way. The truth that scientists had been eradicated—that’s the true achievement.”
Nevertheless, far past the airstrikes, Israeli sources revealed {that a} large intelligence and sabotage marketing campaign was unfolding in parallel inside Iran. A former senior Israeli official advised Fox Information Digital, “There was exercise inside Iran—an insane stage of intelligence work.
“They situated all the command middle of the Iranian Air Power. All of the commanders had been collectively, and so they had been taken out in actual time.”
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Individuals transfer previous a big banner that includes portraits of slain leaders from Iran-aligned armed teams, together with Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian Commander Qasem Soleimani, in central Tehran, Iran, on Could 1, 2025. (Photograph by MOHAMMADALI NAJIB/Center East Photos/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
In accordance with the identical official, Iran’s army had gathered its high air power brass in a single facility as a part of a publicized drill meant to challenge deterrence. As a substitute, it uncovered them. “It was partly luck, but additionally deliberate—the flexibility to see them in actual time and strike with precision,” he stated. “It’s a reminder of what occurred in Lebanon—taking out contaminated management with surgical intelligence.”
That operation in Lebanon, also known as the “pagers” operation, noticed Israel infiltrate and sabotage Hezbollah’s command community utilizing Chinese language-made radios embedded with explosives. The present operation, Israeli specialists say, was broader, deeper, and extra strategically impactful.
“I believe that is so much more substantial,” stated Nadav Eyal, an Israeli journalist and analyst for “Yediot Ahronot” newspaper. “What was accomplished right here was way more than the James Bond sort of kind of pagers operation. It’s extra in regards to the infrastructure, intelligence wanted to learn devastating strikes on army installations, and the ingenuity of its intelligence providers—digital surveillance, issues that it’s been creating for a few years now.”
The Mossad’s infiltration marketing campaign concerned the quiet smuggling of subtle weaponry into Iran, hidden inside autos and embedded close to strategic targets. In central Iran, precision-guided weapons had been planted close to surface-to-air missile batteries and launched on command. Disguised autos had been additionally used to destroy Iran’s air protection methods in the meanwhile of the strike. In the meantime, explosive drones positioned close to Tehran had been activated to destroy long-range missile launchers on the Esfajabad base.
All of it came about beneath the watch of Iranian intelligence and succeeded with out detection.
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Israeli protection officers now say the mission represents one of the vital profitable intelligence-military integrations within the nation’s historical past. If the Lebanon pagers surprised the world, the message from this strike is even clearer: nowhere is out of attain.