The successful opening of Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion” required much more than airstrikes launched from Israel. According to Israeli security officials, the successful operation also relied on drones and missiles planted inside Iran itself, as well as perfect intelligence on the locations of Iran’s top military officials and nuclear scientists. The successful scheme continues Israel’s track record of innovative and effective covert operations.
Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, “established a drone base inside Iran,” “placed precision missiles on numerous vehicles, and embedded additional missiles throughout the country, hidden inside rocks,” a senior security official said to Fox News. These drones and missiles were then launched at Iranian air-defense systems, as well as weapons aimed at Israel, “in precise coordination with the Israeli air force.”
The operation required Mossad to recruit “a huge number of people” inside Iran, including some operatives who “were retrained as commando fighters to carry out mission-critical operations.” The operation also featured the use of “special weapons on a large scale,” a security source told Israeli news outlet N12, although the nature of these weapons was not specified.
By launching from a base “in the heart of Iran,” these weapons were able to evade some of Iran’s air defense and radar systems. They could also strike their targets much sooner after launch than any launched from Israel. Between the Israeli drones launched from within Iran and the Israeli airstrikes launched from Israel-based aircraft, Israel destroyed “dozens of radars and surface-to-air missile launchers.”
In addition to smuggling weapons into Iran, Israeli intelligence efforts also targeted key personnel. Israel developed detailed profiles for Iran’s top three generals and six nuclear scientists, so that they not only knew where they lived, but also knew how they would behave. “We carried out specific activities to help us learn more about them, and then used that information to influence their behavior,” an Israeli official said. “We knew this would lead them to meet — but more importantly, we knew how to keep them there.”
After Israel tricked Iran’s top generals into meeting together in an underground bunker, Israeli fighter jets then struck that location, decapitating Iran’s military leadership within the opening minutes of their Friday strike. Follow-up operations then struck Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz, causing significant damage that knocked out the electricity on the lower levels where nuclear centrifuges are stored.
National Review’s Noah Rothman compared Israel’s covert drone operation to that carried out by Ukraine almost two weeks ago. Ukrainian drones launched from inside Russia crippled 40 Russian warplanes, approximately one-third of the aircraft Russia is using to bomb Ukrainian civilian centers. Some of the planes were stationed at bases thousands of miles away from Ukraine. Ukraine successfully exfiltrated all its operatives from Russia before activating the drones remotely.
The operation also hearkens back to Israel’s famous “pager” attack on Hezbollah. In a multi-year operation, Israel convinced Hezbollah to buy handheld radios from a shell company. Israel then laced these radios with explosives and detonated them simultaneously, injuring thousands of Hezbollah fighters in the most surgical strike imaginable. The purpose of the operation was to soften Hezbollah’s resistance; Israel’s ground invasion of Hezbollah-controlled territory began days later.
American allies have recently proven to be quite creative in using their limited resources to maximum effect against our common enemies. This is a natural advantage that free societies enjoy over oppressive ones, in that they encourage free-thinking, innovation, and experimentation.
This should encourage America to greater boldness in defense of truth, justice, and human dignity in international affairs. Rothman suggests that some Americans seem to have internalized a posture of defeatism, which ultimately flows out of Marxist hatred of American freedom — and even some conservatives seem afflicted with this malaise. Israel’s successful infiltration of Iran demonstrates once again that, since it is possible for America and her free allies to overcome the authoritarian forces arrayed against her, an attitude of defeatism is not warranted.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared here.
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