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Operation Rising Lion: How Mossad built drone base in Iran, hid weapons in civilian vehicles
Israel's operation, dubbed Rising Lion, hit high-value nuclear and military targets across Iran and took out Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard and other commanders. Here's how the Mossad and the Israeli Defence Forces pulled off Israel's biggest strike on Iran since the 1980s read more
David Barnea, the head of the Israeli Mossad attends an honour guard ceremony for Israel's incoming military chief Herzi Halevi at Israel's Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel January 16, 2023. (Photo: Reuters)
Israel's operation against Iran caught many people off guard.
The operation, dubbed Rising Lion, Israel hit high-value nuclear and military targets across Iran.
Israel killed Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami as well as other top officials.
This Israel's biggest strike on Iran since the 1980s.
But how did Tel Aviv pull it off?
Let's take a closer look:
Misdirection, smokescreen
It all kicked off on Thursday night with a bout of misdirection.
The security cabinet meeting was labelled a discussion on how to free the hostages in Gaza.
Indeed, the ministers were even told discussions would take place about the same.
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Only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad chief David Barnea and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer were briefed on the real plan.
The Cabinet unanimously approved the strike on Iran and all the ministers signed an NDA – known as the Shomer Sod (Guardian of the Secret) pact.
Reports were also spread that Netanyahu was set to undertake a holiday in the Galilee next week with his family as well as attend the wedding of his son.
The prime minister's office even issued a statement that Barnea and Dermer were headed to Washington to meet US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Netanyahu even refused to deny a false report about him and Trump being at odds over a potential strike on Iran .
Reports were also spread that Benjamin Netanyahu was set to undertake a holiday in the Galilee next week with his family as well as attend the wedding of his son. AFP
Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal wrote on X that Trump had publicly given Iran '60 days to reach a deal' on April 12.
'Today is day 61,' he added.
The idea was to lull Iran into sleep , an official told Jerusalem Post.
Years in the making
Israeli security officials have said that the operation against Iran was years in the making.
The operation was run by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Mossad in tandem.
It included Mossad constructing a drone base inside Iran and running weapons and commandos into the country.
Mossad also carried out sabotage operations within Iran.
They planted high-precision guided weapons in open areas near Iran's surface-to-air missile batteries as well as weapon platforms inside civilian vehicles across Iran.
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When the air campaign began, Mossad activated these systems remotely.
These weapons downed the Iranian air defences with great technological precision – which cleared a path for the Israeli jets.
The Israeli fighet jets then Iran's main uranium enrichment facility of Natanz, ballistic missile sites and took out senior military officers.
An official told the Times of Israel that the operation used 'groundbreaking thinking, bold planning and surgical operation of advanced technologies, special forces and agents operating in the heart of Iran while totally evading the eyes of local intelligence.'
The agents here released videos showing its agents taking aim at ballistic missile and air defence targets.
'A senior Israeli official told me that other than airstrikes, the Israeli Mossad, the foreign intelligence agency, conducted several operations inside Iran against Iranian air defenses and against Iranian long-range missiles,' Axios reporter Barak Ravid told CNN.
Even as the Israelis attacked from the outside, the Mossad agents inside Iran activated the drones – which took out the surface-to-surface missile launchers aimed at Israel.
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Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has called on Iran to reach a deal with Washington on its nuclear program.
Trump warned Tehran that Israel's attacks 'will only get worse.'
In his first public comments since Friday's attacks, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that 'there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end.'
'Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire,' he added. 'No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.'
With inputs from agencies
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