Israel’s attack on Iran on Friday, June 13th, was not only one of the boldest airstrikes in modern history but also the result of years of secret planning, surveillance, and infiltration by Israeli intelligence agencies. Israeli security officials revealed that Mossad, the country’s intelligence agency, smuggled weapons into Iran prior to the attack, deployed strike capabilities across Iran without detection by Iranian intelligence, and launched a coordinated three-tier attack on Iran’s defense facilities from within.
In the early hours of Friday, Israel launched an operation named “Rising Lion” against Iran. This operation was a product of unprecedented coordination between the Israeli Air Force, Military Intelligence, Mossad, and the Israeli Defense Industry. Over the years, they worked together to gather the necessary intelligence to neutralize Iran’s most sensitive military and nuclear assets.
While the focus has been on the airstrikes carried out by dozens of Israeli fighter jets, Mossad also successfully activated the weapons deployed inside Iran, intensifying the attack on Iran.
A senior Israeli security official told Fox News, “Mossad cooperated with a large number of operatives who infiltrated deep into Iranian territory, operating at the highest levels of penetration imaginable. Some of these operatives were retrained as commandos to carry out critical missions.”
According to the official, Mossad’s work ultimately led to the three-tier attack on Iran.
“We destroyed a significant portion of Iran’s ground-to-ground and ground-to-air missile infrastructure, a large number of top scientists, and most of their air defense systems,” the Israeli security official said. He added, “We established a drone base inside Iran, and at the start of the operation, Mossad operatives retrieved these drones from hiding. We placed precision missiles on numerous vehicles and concealed more missiles in rocks across various locations in Iran. We coordinated precisely with the Israeli Air Force to activate the entire missile array.”
Mossad’s infiltration activities in Iran included smuggling advanced weapons into Iranian territory, hiding them in vehicles, and placing them near strategic targets. In central Iran, Israel’s precision-guided weapons were placed near surface-to-air missile launchers and fired according to instructions. Camouflaged vehicles were also used to destroy Iran’s air defense systems during the attack. Meanwhile, explosive drones deployed near Tehran were activated to destroy long-range missile launchers at the Esfajabad base in Iran.
All of these actions took place under the nose of Iranian intelligence without being detected.
Israeli defense officials described this mission as one of the most successful intelligence-military integration operations in Israeli history. If the “Lebanon Pager Incident” shocked the world, the message conveyed by this attack is even more precise: there is nowhere Israel cannot reach.
Israeli jets simultaneously launched airstrikes on dozens of facilities, including Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. Natanz, located 1500 kilometers from Israel, has long been a crucial component of Iran’s nuclear program. Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Effie Defrin described it as an underground complex with multiple centrifuge halls and power infrastructure.
Defrin stated that Natanz suffered “severe damage” in the Israeli airstrikes. For years, the Iranian regime has been trying to utilize the facility to acquire nuclear weapons, as it possesses the infrastructure needed to enrich uranium to a military-grade level.
Avner Golov, Vice President of Mind Israel think tank, told Fox News, “The greatest success was the strike on the Natanz facility, neutralizing Iran’s first wave of retaliation – automatic response measures.”
“We disrupted their initial actions, destroying the ballistic missiles they were about to launch and the drones already in flight. This operation also eliminated some Iranian scientists – that is the real achievement,” Golov stated.
However, Israeli sources told Fox News that the strikes against Iran went beyond just airstrikes; a large-scale intelligence and sabotage operation was also simultaneously underway inside Iran. A former senior Israeli official mentioned, “They targeted the entire command center of the Iranian Air Force. All commanders were together at the time and were taken out in real-time.”
According to the official, the Iranian military had gathered its top Air Force commanders at a facility for a public exercise to display their strength, inadvertently exposing themselves.
He mentioned that part of the success of this operation was luck, but it was also planned – being able to monitor them in real-time and carry out precise strikes. This brings to mind the events in Lebanon, where Israel used precise intelligence to successfully eliminate the leadership of Hezbollah.
In September 2024, the pager used by Hezbollah members simultaneously detonated, resulting in significant casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu later admitted approving the attack. Israeli experts suggest that the current operations against Iran have broader, deeper, and more strategic implications.
Israeli journalist and analyst for “Yediot Ahronot” newspaper, Nadav Eyal, stated that the impact of this operation is far greater than the pager incident. It focused more on targeting infrastructure, requiring precise intelligence gathering for devastating strikes on military facilities.
The Cable News Network (CNN) received information from Israeli officials that Mossad established a base inside Iran to launch explosive drones, which were activated in the Friday attack on Iran, targeting a missile launcher near a base near Tehran.
Iran’s official media confirmed on Friday that Hossein Salami, Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed in the Israeli airstrike. Besides Salami, Israel stated that Iran’s top military commander, Joint Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri, and senior nuclear scientists, along with other military high-ranking members like General Gholamreza Rashid, were killed in the initial attack. At least six nuclear scientists were killed in the Israeli airstrike.
Two regional sources informed Reuters that at least 20 Iranian senior commanders were killed in the Israeli attack.