Israel weighs options to destroy Fordow if it has to go it alone without help from the US
One option includes sending elite Israeli Air Force commandos from Unit 5101, known as Shaldag, which, in Hebrew, means kingfisher, a bird known to be patient and dive deep under water to find its prey.
In September, members of this elite unit surprised the world by entering an underground missile factory used by Iran in Syria.
"There was a site that similarly looked like Fordow," former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin told Fox News in an exclusive interview. "Even though smaller, the Syrian facility produced advanced ballistic missiles, precise ballistic missiles using Iranian technology, as well as Iranian money."
Israel attacked the site from the air a few times but was not able to destroy the site.
Unit 5101 (Shaldag) used the cover of darkness and diversionary airstrikes to enter the secret site, plant explosives and destroy the complex. Like Iran's Fordow mountain complex south of Tehran, it was 300 feet underground.
"The Air Force took care of all the guards around the perimeter, and Shaldag got in, and the place is gone, destroyed," Yadlin said with a slight smile.
It's not the first time Israel has had to plan to take out a secret nuclear complex against the odds and alone. In 1981, Israel flew a daring mission to bomb Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak.
Yadlin was one of eight young Israeli F-16 pilots who carried out the secret attack.
"We didn't have air refueling at that time. We didn't have GPS. It was dumb bombs, smart pilot, but a very difficult operational mission when Iraq was in a war (with Iran). So, the state of alert was very, very high," Yadlin recalled. He and the other pilots believed it might be a suicide mission, and they might not have enough fuel to return home.
More recently, retired Maj. Gen. Yadlin served as the head of Israel's Military Intelligence in 2007, when Israel blew up a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor that the world did not know about. The White House at the time did not want to assist in the strike. Yadlin has seen history change after Israel has acted alone carrying out daring missions like the exploding pagers that killed most of the top commanders of Iran's proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.
In 2008, when it was determined that Israeli F-16s could not reach Iran's nuclear sites, Yadlin ordered Mossad to come up with another way to take out Iran's uranium enrichment at Natanz. Two years later, Israeli and American cyber warriors introduced Stuxnet, a malicious computer worm that caused thousands of Natanz centrifuges to spin out of control, setting back Iran's nuclear enrichment.
The decision to strike Fordow, the crown jewel and heart of Iran's nuclear program, is different, and Israel prefers the U.S. to use its B-2 stealth bombers and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
"Anybody who wants the war to be over soon, to be finished quickly, have to find a way to deal with Fordow," Yadlin said. "Those who think that attacking Fordow will escalate the war, in my judgment, it can de-escalate and terminate the war."
And it could serve as a deterrent to China and Russia, who will see the power and capability of the U.S. military's unique capability.
Another option would be to cut power to Fordow. Without power, the centrifuges enriching the uranium could become permanently disabled.
When asked if Israel could take out Fordow without American B-2 bombers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox's Bret Baier in an exclusive interview last Sunday, "We have quite a few startups too and quite a few rabbits up our sleeve. And I don't think that I should get into that."
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CNN
9 minutes ago
- CNN
As Israel begins offensive on Gaza City, an exhausted military may face a manpower problem
As the earliest stages of a massive assault on Gaza City take shape, Israel is calling up tens of thousands of reservists to take part in the impending military operation. The takeover and occupation of the largest city in northern Gaza, which Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was one of the last Hamas strongholds, will require the military to bring in 60,000 more reserve troops and extend the service of another 20,000. The Israeli military is already on the outskirts of Gaza City, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Wednesday, in what he described as the first steps of the larger operation. When the security cabinet first approved the takeover of Gaza City, Israeli officials estimated the plan could take five months or more. But on Wednesday, Netanyahu instructed the military to shorten the timeline. After nearly two years of war, and with no end in sight amid the next major operation, Israel's military chief warned of the added burden on the troops, many of whom have been called up multiple times to fight in Gaza. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told the security cabinet earlier this month that the military faced attrition and burnout, but his concerns were dismissed as Netanyahu and his coalition partners pushed ahead with the new war plans. A new survey from the Agam Labs at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem suggested that approximately 40% of soldiers were slightly or significantly less motivated to serve, while a little more than 13% were more motivated. The findings underscore the stark reality facing Israel's military, which could face limits to its manpower, especially as polls have repeatedly shown an overwhelming majority of the country supports an end to the war. Military leaders have called for the government to draft ultra-Orthodox men into service to supplement the beleaguered troops. But the vast majority of the ultra-Orthodox community has refused to serve, and at their demand, the government is pushing a broad exemption to mandatory military service. That this political debate is happening in the midst of war has only stoked the anger of many of those who serve. After the security cabinet approved the new operation, a small reservist organization in Israel renewed calls for soldiers to decline military orders to serve. 'Your children do not know how to refuse on their own, because it is difficult. It is almost impossible,' Soldiers for Hostages said on social media earlier this month. Other reservist organizations have not publicly advocated for open refusal, which is more likely to be a private decision not to serve. The IDF does not publish the numbers or percentages of reservists who do not show up when called. Avshalom Zohar Sal has served more than 300 days in Gaza on four different deployments. His last deployment ended only one month ago, and he is no longer willing to return to the front line, especially to an operation in Gaza City 'I'm a little in shock that we're still talking about this war that was supposed to end a long time ago,' Zohar Sal told CNN. He says the doubts, that began creeping in a year ago, have only grown stronger and other members of his unit have the same worries as him. 'I think this decision is a death sentence for the hostages,' he said. 'The government talked and said all the time that we're talking about two missions for this war: to return the hostages and to defeat Hamas. Now it's like telling us, there's only one goal, which I believe is not achievable: to destroy Hamas. And even this won't destroy Hamas.' The Israeli military has a relatively small active-duty force, comprised mostly of conscripts. To continue fighting what has become the country's longest war ever, Israel has to rely on reservists. But it's not clear what percentage will answer a new round of calls to serve inside Gaza once again, especially after the military chief warned the operation could endanger the soldiers and the hostages. Defrin, the military spokesman, tried to address those concerns Wednesday, saying at a press conference that the IDF uses 'intelligence and many other capabilities' to protect the lives of the hostages. But all he could promise was that 'we'll do our best not to harm the hostages.' Reserve call-up notices are mandatory for many, but after sending numerous reservists into Gaza multiple times, the military has shown little willingness to punish or prosecute those who decline or otherwise avoid the call. Former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, who led the military during the 2006 war with Lebanon, predicted not all the reservists would show up for duty. 'I believe that some of them will stay home,' he told CNN at a protest by Air Force reservists earlier this month. 'The war is over a year ago,' said Halutz, describing the current plan as having 'no logic.' The retired general was careful not to call on Israelis to refuse to serve, but he encouraged reservists to 'act according to his conscience, to his set of rules.' Netanyahu promised more than a year ago that the worst of the fighting would be over by now. He told CBS in an interview in February of last year that once Israel invaded Rafah in southern Gaza, 'the intense phase of the fighting is weeks away from completion, not months, weeks away from completion.' Now, 18 months later, Netanyahu says a new operation is the fastest way to end Israel's longest war.
Washington Post
10 minutes ago
- Washington Post
State Dept. fires official after internal debates over Israel
The State Department fired its top press officer for Israeli-Palestinian affairs following multiple disputes over how to characterize key Trump administration policies, including a controversial plan to relocate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip that critics consider ethnic cleansing, according to U.S. officials and documents reviewed by The Washington Post. Monday's firing of c occurred days after an internal debate about releasing a statement to the news media that said, 'We do not support forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza.' Ghoreishi drafted the line, which resembled previous remarks made by President Donald Trump and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who said in February the United States would not pursue an 'eviction plan' for Gaza. State Department leadership vetoed the move, instructing officials to 'cut the line marked in red and clear,' according to a memo dated last week. U.S. officials said Ghoreishi's firing has sent a chilling message to State Department employees that communication straying from ardent pro-Israel messaging — even if it's in line with long-standing U.S. policy — will not be tolerated. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. The State Department did not offer a rationale for Ghoreishi's firing but suggested he had strayed from the White House's agenda. 'We do not comment on leaked emails or allegations,' said State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott. 'Federal employees should never put their personal political ideologies ahead of the duly elected president's agenda.' Ghoreishi told The Post he was not given an explanation for his firing, which the State Department was not required to provide due to his status as a contractor. He said the incident raised troubling questions about the department's position on the potential expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. 'Despite a strong reputation and close working relationship with many of my colleagues, I was unable to survive these disputes,' he said, noting the language he recommended for the media statement had been previously cleared by the State Department since Trump took office on Jan. 20. Another dispute inside the State Department occurred earlier this month following Israel's targeted killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and several other journalists in Gaza City. Israel claimed al-Sharif was a Hamas member, a charge denied by Al Jazeera. Israel has not made similar claims about the cameraman and other journalists killed along side al-Sharif. As officials contemplated how the State Department should address the incident, Ghoreishi recommended including a line that said 'We mourn the loss of journalists and express condolences to their families.' State Department leadership objected in an email sent Aug. 10. 'No response is needed,' said the email. 'We can't be sending out condolences if we are unsure of this individual's actions.' A key opponent of Ghoreishi within the department was David Milstein, a senior adviser to Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Milstein is known for confronting staff throughout the department in defense of the Israeli government, said officials familiar with the matter. Critics of Milstein within the State Department contend he appears overly eager to please Israeli officials and frequently involves himself in matters that are beyond the scope of his responsibilities. 'Milstein is an adviser to an ambassador,' one official said. 'That's it, yet he has his hands in everything.' Milstein did not respond to a request for comment. Milstein and other State Department officials clashed in July when Milstein sought to release a statement under Secretary of State Marco Rubio's name that condemned Ireland for considering legislation that would ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said officials. The effort alarmed U.S. diplomats in Europe, who viewed the appropriate next step to be consulting with Irish officials in private before publicly condemning the country's actions. Ultimately, U.S. diplomats overseeing Europe and the Middle East prevailed over Milstein and prevented the statement's release. More recently, Milstein and Ghoreishi disagreed over Milstein's push for the State Department to refer to the West Bank as 'Judea and Samaria,' the biblical name for the region that is widely used within Israel. 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In a post on social media, she called Ghoreishi a 'Pro-Iranian Regime Jihadi Muslim Tied To NIAC,' a reference to the National Iranian American Council, a group that supported the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Ghoreishi said he was an intern there in the fall of 2013.
New York Times
22 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: President Steps Up Attack on Fed as He Demands a Governor Resign
Arizona State University has one of the highest proportions of international students, but their numbers are set to drop this fall. Many Iranians are not going to American universities this fall. Students from Afghanistan are having trouble getting to campus. Even students from China and India, the top two senders of international students to the United States, have been flummoxed by a maze of new obstacles the Trump administration has set up to slow or deter people entering the country from abroad. Between the federal government's heightened vetting of student visas and President Trump's travel ban, the number of international students newly enrolled in American universities seems certain to drop — by a lot. There were about a million international students studying in the United States a year ago, according to figures published by the State Department. Data on international student enrollment is not expected to be released until the fall. But higher education is already feeling the pain and deeply worried about the fallout. Many schools have seen the number of international students grow in recent years. But a survey of over 500 colleges and universities by the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit which works with governments and others to promote international education, found that 35 percent of the schools experienced a dip in applications from abroad last spring, the most since the pandemic. In China and India, there have been few visa appointments available for students in recent months, and sometimes none at all, according to the Association of International Educators, also known as NAFSA, a professional organization. If visa problems persist, new international student enrollment in American colleges could drop by 30 to 40 percent overall this fall, a loss of 150,000 students, according to the group's analysis. Some students have given up on enrolling in U.S. schools entirely out of anxiety over the political environment in the United States. Others are staying away because they worry that even if they were to gain entry, they would effectively be trapped, unable to do things that other students can, like apply for internships or travel home over the holidays to see their families. International students make up a significant portion of enrollment at elite universities like Columbia, but also at public institutions like Purdue. At Arizona State University, one of the ten universities that enroll the most international students, the number beginning their studies this fall — 14,600 in all — is down by about 500 from last fall, a spokesman said, mostly because of visa delays. Many international students pay full tuition and are a revenue source that schools have come to rely on, including to help underwrite financial aid for other students. It's part of the business model. Wendy Wolford, vice provost for international affairs at Cornell University, said the biggest loss from the drop in international enrollment is talent. 'They're literally some of the best in the world,' she said. Dr. Wolford said she was also worried about the lost opportunity for domestic students to be exposed to students from different cultures, and for international students to spread good will toward the United States when they return home. The Trump administration began focusing on international students last spring, taking a number of steps to target students who were already in the country and to increase vetting of those who wanted to enroll. While President Trump said that he welcomed international students, he argued that some of them pose security risks and may be involved in academic espionage. He also said foreign students were taking up coveted slots at universities that could instead go to American citizens. 'We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, they can't get in because we have foreign students there,' Mr. Trump said. 'But I want to make sure that the foreign students are people that can love our country.' Image Cornell University is allowing international students to enroll at its campuses abroad, but few have taken up the opportunity. Credit... Heather Ainsworth for The New York Times In one of its first moves, the Trump administration threatened to deport more than 1,800 international students studying in the United States. In many cases, the reasons were opaque. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that international students who were a part of campus protests over the war in Gaza, in particular, were not welcome. 'We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree,' he said last spring, 'not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses.' Several groups have gone to court to challenge what they called an ideological deportation policy. Veena Dubal, general counsel for the American Association of University Professors, says the administration is violating the constitutional rights of noncitizens and citizens alike in choosing to deport people based on views that are protected by the First Amendment. Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, has argued that the crackdown is undemocratic. 'This practice is one we'd ordinarily associate with the most repressive political regimes,' he has said. After an outcry, many of the students targeted for deportation were reinstated. But overall this year, State Department officials said they have revoked more than 6,000 student visas, on grounds of supporting terrorism, overstaying visas and breaking the law, a number first reported by Fox News. And the State Department suspended new student visa appointments between May 27 and June 18, a time of year that is ordinarily the peak season. When the government began issuing student visas again in late June, it was with a proviso that consulates would scrutinize applicants' social media more rigorously. That has made the process much slower, and students who have yet to clear the interview process may be in danger of missing the start of fall classes or may even have to postpone enrollment by a semester or more. 'There does appear to be a heightened review of student visa applications,' said Ms. Dubal, adding: 'Their social media are being reviewed for expression of pro-Palestinian sentiment or critiques of Trump's foreign policy positions.' Mr. Trump signed a proclamation in late May barring foreign students from entering the United States to attend Harvard, citing security concerns, but a judge has blocked the order from taking effect. In June, Mr. Trump signed another proclamation to fully or partially restrict the entry of people from 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, Yemen, Cuba, Laos and Venezuela, and to increase scrutiny of people from other countries, to make sure that the people 'do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests.' Though the proclamation did not target students in particular, many students have been caught up in the travel restrictions. 'Because of the travel ban, it's just not possible to get student visas from certain countries,' said Dan Berger, an immigration lawyer in Northampton, Mass. 'A lot of Afghan women had been offered full scholarships in the U.S. and can't get visas.' Asked about delays, a State Department spokesperson said that the department had made its vetting of visa applicants more effective and more efficient. 'But in every case, we will take the time necessary to ensure an applicant is eligible for the visa sought and does not pose a risk to the safety and security of the United States,' the spokesperson said. Noushin, an Iranian student who was admitted to the University of South Carolina to study for a doctorate in chemical engineering, was caught up in the travel ban. She had a visa interview in September 2024 and was to start her studies in the spring of 2025, but she has yet to hear whether her visa will be approved. She is now helping to organize a lobbying campaign to end the visa delays, and says that a chat group on Telegram suggests that there are hundreds of other Iranian students in similar situations. Noushin, who asked for her last name not to be disclosed for fear that it would affect her visa prospects, said she chose the United States as the place to study because she believed that it offered the best higher education in the world. Now she believes she is being punished because of assumptions about her political beliefs, though as a scholar, she argues, she is separate from politics. Michael Crow, the president of Arizona State University, said he met with an American diplomatic official in India a few months ago to discuss the visa problem, and was told the State Department was doing the best it could. The uncertainty about getting a U.S. visa is prompting some students to look elsewhere. Dr. Wolford, of Cornell, said universities were already seeing European students diverting to European universities and Asian students to Asian universities. 'Our international students had always been very secure in the knowledge that they understood the rules of the game, and last year the rules of the game changed dramatically,' she said. Many American universities now have campuses abroad and have tried to accommodate international students at those campuses until they can get U.S. visas. Cornell, for instance, gave students the option to start the fall 2025 semester at partner campuses in Edinburgh, Hong Kong or Seoul. 'We didn't have many students take us up,' Dr. Wolford said. 'Students were hoping they would either get their applications through and come to us, or they decided to go someplace else.' Iranian students, including some admitted to Cornell, have banded together to try to attract attention to their plight. The group is highly educated, said Pouria, a civil engineering student, who asked that his surname not be used to protect his visa chances. He was admitted to a doctoral program at the University of Texas at Austin. He said his research project — to investigate how polymeric geocells can be used to reinforce roadway foundations — is financed by the Texas Department of Transportation. His request for a visa has been stuck in 'administrative processing' for 14 months, he said. In the meantime he has been collaborating with colleagues remotely to keep the project from slowing down. Students like him, he argued, are not a threat to U.S. society.
