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Israeli Commandos Attacked Iranian Air Defenses With Drones From Inside The Country: Report
Israel's Operation Rising Lion, which aims to neuter Iran's nuclear and long-range weapons capabilities, began with an overnight attack on a wide array of targets. These strikes included the use of drones and missiles launched by operatives from deep within Iran. This is the conclusion of a report from Israeli outlet N12, which cites an unnamed Israeli security source.
You can get up to speed with our initial reporting of Operation Rising Lion and its aftermath here.
While details understandably remain thin, the implication is that Mossad meticulously prepared for the attack over many months, including placing agents in Iran. From there, they would operate one-way attack drones and loitering anti-armor missiles, as well as establish a covert drone base 'in the heart of Iran,' to neutralize Iranian air defenses and create other critical effects to kick off the long-awaited campaign.
'As part of their activities, Mossad agents implemented significant moves to introduce special weapons on a large scale, deploy them throughout Iran, and launch them towards the attack targets in a precise and effective manner,' the security source told N12.
Cleared for publication: Mossad agents on Iranian soil used drones & high-precision missiles in ops to eliminate key Iranian officials, N12 News reports. Unbelievable.
— Israel Radar (@IsraelRadar_com) June 13, 2025
Among the targets reportedly prosecuted by Israeli operatives within Iran was an air defense site near Tehran. Shortly before the operation began, Israeli drones launched from within Iran struck surface-to-air missile launchers there, clearing the way for the larger strike, which also involved Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets. This would also explain the apparent inactivity by Iranian air defense sites during the Israeli bombardment. At the same time, the IAF has also been flying suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses (SEAD/DEAD) operations that the service says have destroyed 'dozens of radars and surface-to-air missile launchers.'
בשעות האחרונות מטוסי קרב של חיל-האוויר, בהכוונה מודיעינית מדויקת של אגף המודיעין, השלימו תקיפה נרחבת נגד מערך ההגנה האווירית של המשטר האיראני במערב איראן.במסגרת התקיפות הושמדו עשרות מכ״מים ומשגרי טילי קרקע-אוויר.
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) June 13, 2025
According to Israeli officials, around 200 IAF aircraft were involved in the operation, dropping some 330 munitions. Although the IAF routinely uses standoff weaponry for strikes of this kind, removing Iranian ground-based air defenses would have provided a further element of protection as well as ensuring that munitions launched from IAF aircraft were able to make it through to their targets.
Video and photos released by the IDF show Israeli Air Force F-16 and F-35 fighters launching to attack targets in Iran. The F-16s are seen carrying Small Diameter Bombs (SDB) and Popeye missile datalink pods:
The IDF releases footage showing Israeli Air Force fighter jets heading out for the strikes in Iran this morning, as well as landing following the attacks.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 13, 2025
"עם כלביא": תיעודים מרגעי ההמראות והנחיתות של מטוסי הקרב של חיל-האוויר, במבצע לפגיעה בתוכנית הגרעין האיראנית
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) June 13, 2025
Meanwhile, other Israeli one-way attack drones launched from within Iran were reportedly sent against surface-to-surface missile launchers determined to pose a threat to Israeli strategic targets and Israeli citizens.
It's unclear exactly how the Israeli drones and missiles were transported into Iran and how they were then concealed. According to N12, the Mossad cells established at least some drone and missile bases 'in the open, not far from Iran's air defense systems.'
The video in the tweet embedded below purports to show drones and/or missiles launched by Mossad operatives who were infiltrated close to Tehran:
תקיפת טילי ומשגרי הקרקע-קרקע האיראניים באמצעות רחפי נפץ שהוחדרו על ידי המוסד במרחב טהראן | תיעוד@roysharon11
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 13, 2025
Video footage appears to show Israeli commandos on the ground in Iran and operating Rafael Spike precision-guided missiles. Spike, specifically the Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) version, would be an ideal weapon for this sort of mission, since it can be launched from behind cover. It can be employed in a 'fire and forget' mode or using man-in-the-loop guidance. In this way, the missile can also be used to reconnoiter targets before striking them, with extreme precision, as well.
Images of Mossad operatives in Iran conducting strikes overnight. Appear to possibly use Spike ATGMs to hit air defence assets.
— ELINT News (@ELINTNews) June 13, 2025
In an operation that was years in the works, Mossad and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) drew up a target list of individuals associated with the Iranian nuclear program as well as key security officials. The preemptive strike eliminated various individuals, apparently targeting at least some of them in their own homes, as well as hitting elements of Iran's nuclear infrastructure and strategic missile systems.
According to Iranian state media, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Hossein Salami, the Army Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, and the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Joint Forces Headquarters, Maj. Gen. Gholamali Rashid, were killed in the strikes, as well as six nuclear scientists, including Fereydoun Abbasi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization from 2011 to 2013.
'The institutional campaign was planned for a long time and required bold and sophisticated planning alongside groundbreaking thinking and strategizing,' the same intelligence source told N12. 'All operations required accurate research and intelligence gathering, advanced technologies, and the operation of extensive commando forces that operated in the heart of Tehran and throughout Iran in complete secrecy and under the watchful eyes of Iranian security and intelligence agencies.'
When it comes to covert drone and missile operations, a recent precedent for this is seen in the work of Ukraine's intelligence services, which launched one-way attack drones from within Russian territory during Operation Spiderweb at the start of this month. On that occasion, drones concealed within trucks were launched in a coordinated attack on strategic bombers on different airfields deep within Russia, as you can read about here. The use of covertly launched drones to take out a strategic target in a long-planned and closely coordinated pre-emptive attack has significant parallels with what we are now seeing happen in Iran.
Israel likely used similar tactics against Iran's air defense systems as Ukraine did against Russia's bombers. Near proximity precision attacks against critical targets using lower-end drones. The exact threat I have been detailing and warning of for over a decade.
— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) June 13, 2025
There is also a suggestion that Israel may have employed vehicle-based weapons within Iran, with reports of undisclosed 'sophisticated technologies […] installed on vehicles' that targeted Iranian defense systems.
BREAKING. This is downright insane. In the best sense of the word. Just wow. Seriously. This puts the beepers to shame. IDF Spokesperson: Two hundred planes dropped 330 munitions, the Chief of Staff, the head of the Revolutionary Guards and other senior officials were…
— Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) June 13, 2025
Israel, too, appears to have also previously conducted covert kinetic attacks from within Iran. Israeli officials claimed that the assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in 2020, involved using a gun in either a remote-controlled or entirely automated mount on a pickup truck, with no actual human assassins involved. The New York Times subsequently reported that Israeli intelligence 'used [an] AI-powered weapon built into an abandoned-looking vehicle' to target Fakhrizadeh.
While a covert operation like that which appears to have been launched from within Iran during Operation Rising Lion has the advantage of surprise, it's not clear whether it can be repeated, at least in the short term. At the very least, Iranian authorities will now be very much on the alert to uncover any other similar bases or cells.
With that in mind, Israel will likely resort to more traditional means for further kinetic attacks on Iran in the short term. On the other hand, Israel does still have different options for unconventional attacks, in particular other forms of sabotage, especially in the cyber domain. This is an area in which Israel essentially wrote the rulebook, notably in terms of the suppression of air defense systems.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already declared that Rising Lion, which he says is aimed at 'rolling back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival,' will take 'many days.'
'We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment program,' Netanyahu said in a recorded televised address. 'We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran's ballistic missile program.'
With Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, threatening 'severe punishment' against Israel, and Iran already having launched around 100 drones against Israel this morning, more strikes launched by both sides appear likely. Netanyahu has warned that the operation could be long and difficult, and that 'Israeli citizens may have to remain in sheltered areas for lengthy periods of time.'
In the meantime, we may well start to learn more about how Israel launched an unprecedented attack from within Iran, as well.
Contact the author: thomas@
