How Israel launched attacks from inside Iran to sow chaos during war

Iran’s 12-day war, which was supported by the United States, was heavily aided by operations launched from deep inside Iranian soil by the Israeli military, which included hundreds of fighter jets, armed drones, and refueling planes.

On June 13, the Israeli army and the Mossad spy agency released footage that appeared to have been recorded at night in Iran’s undisclosed locations just hours before dawn.

One gloomy video showed Mossad agents posing as civilians while crouched in what appeared to be desert terrain, wearing tactical gear like night-vision goggles and concealing themselves from incoming attack aircraft.

Others depicted ballistic missile platforms and projectiles slammed into Iranian missile defense batteries with mounted cameras. Spike missiles, which are relatively small, precision-guided anti-armour missiles that can be programmed to fly toward targets outside their line of sight, appeared to be the projectiles.

State media also reported images of the weapons being used by Iranian authorities, who confirmed the weapons’ use, in one of the open areas where they were found. They claimed that the weapons were run by “terrorist Mossad agents” and had been “internet-based automation and remote-controlled systems” installed.

In November of this year, an Israeli operation in which Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a senior figure in Iran’s nuclear program, was killed while moving in a car with his wife and bodyguards in a city near Tehran, was carried out. A one-tonne gun was reportedly brought into Iran by Mossad in pieces and mounted on the back of a pick-up truck after Fakhrizadeh was killed, according to Israeli authorities at the time, who confirmed that the assassination was carried out using remote-controlled and artificial intelligence-guided equipment.

In the northwest of West Azerbaijan, Iran executed three men who are suspected of being involved in the murder of Fakhrizadeh and other murders on Wednesday morning.

Iranian nuclear scientists were killed in drone strikes on June 25, 2025, in Tehran, Iran. [Majid Saeedi/Getty Images]

Iranian drone manufacturing

In addition, it appears that Israel, as part of its multifaceted assault operations, used numerous explosive-laden small drones and quadcopters during the 12-day conflict to obliterate Iran’s defenses.

Iranian media reported that Iran’s air defenses were in place to stop small drones and larger military-grade counterparts like the Hermes 900, which Iran claimed to have shot down throughout the war. Al Jazeera cannot, however, confirm the precise number of drone launches and how successful they were at hitting their targets.

As Israeli warplanes dropped more bombs across the nation and US President Donald Trump briefly rhetorically backed the possibility of regime change, the smaller drones attracted a lot of attention and forced authorities to mount large-scale search operations to neutralize them.

Soon afterward, authorities discovered pick-up trucks with custom cargo beds that could house small, predetermined drones that they claimed could be launched by coming close to their intended targets. Similar tactics have been successful elsewhere, such as when Ukraine managed to demolish up to a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet on the tarmac of four Russian airfields deep inside Russian territory.

Security forces from Iran organized search parties consisting of police officers who searched the streets in motorcycles or other vehicles to spot any suspicious trucks or movements, especially at night. In sprawling Tehran and throughout the nation, including in northern provinces where millions of people flocked after fleeing the capital, which frequently stopped and searched pick-up trucks with covered cargo beds.

Their agents appear to have been able to set up small production lines of the unmanned vehicles inside Iran following what the Israelis claimed were years of preparation.

A three-story building in Shahr-e Rey, in southern Tehran, was said to be dedicated to handing out drones, homemade bombs, and a lot of explosives.

A second similar operation, involving six Iranian “Mossad agents,” was also shown on state television, where quadcopters with timers, grenades, and other weapons were being assembled. There were also reports of explosive-laden vehicles, but Iranian authorities did not provide any official confirmation.

On state television, some of the arrested suspects were depicted giving their confessions while holding their hands in their eyes. One unnamed suspect was personally interrogated by Tehran’s public prosecutor Ali Salehi on state television, who claimed he attempted to film air defenses for the Mossad from rooftops.

We are all being watched, he said.

Eyal Zamir, the chief of staff of the Israeli military, confirmed in a video statement on Wednesday that commando forces “operated covertly deep in enemy territory and carried out operations that gave us operational freedom of action.” He did not specify whether he was speaking about the commandos that were visible at the start of the first night or other potential operations.

Regarding alleged Israeli commando operations conducted inside Iranian territory, Iranian officials have not made any direct comments.

Authorities have executed at least six people accused of cooperating with Israel and the US, but they haven’t stopped announcing dozens of arrests in Iran since the start of the war.

In an effort to restrain Iran’s retaliation, Israeli intelligence operations inside Iran are thought to have been a major factor in the success of the surprise attacks on June 13 that started the conflict, which resulted in the deaths of numerous top military commanders and nuclear scientists. Additionally, they incapacitated some air defenses and targeted some missile launch sites, all of which were done by Israel.

Two of Israel’s largest banks and the nation’s largest cryptocurrency exchange were temporarily destroyed by massive cyberattacks launched by pro-Israel hacking groups.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the assassinated head of the crucial aerospace division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stated in a speech that “we are all under surveillance” by Mossad using mobile phones and other communication devices during an unreleased video that was released by state-linked media this week.

Hajizadeh, who was killed in a meeting with a number of other top aerospace commanders in an underground bunker in or around Tehran, urged people to use caution, turn off, and occasionally replace their phones during the address.

Iranian authorities also temporarily halted access to the internet, reportedly choking off 97 percent of the massive nation’s connectivity as a result of their response to the Israeli offensive, according to NetBlocks internet observatory. One of the most extensive internet blackouts ever to be implemented in Iran and probably elsewhere in the world.

Two days after Trump announced a ceasefire, the majority of the restrictions imposed during the conflict were lifted.

Pope Leo decries ‘shameful’ disregard for international law

As conflicts rage worldwide and international institutions continue to neglect to put an end to abuses and war crimes, Pope Leo XIV has lamented what he has described as the rise of blunt power over the rules of international law.

The pontiff stated in a Thursday social media post that it is depressing to see that the strength of international law and humanitarian law have vanished.

For humanity and the leaders of other countries, this is unworthy and shameful.

Leo’s statement comes as more people are calling for the end to the Israeli assault on Gaza, which prominent rights activists and UN experts have characterized as a genocide, but he did not go into more detail.

During its conflict with Palestinians, Israel has been the target of growing accusations that it broke international humanitarian law, a set of guidelines meant to protect civilians in conflict.

According to health officials, the Israeli military, supported by the United States, has nearly displaced almost all of Gaza’s population and killed at least 56,156 people.

Former US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller, who spearheaded Washington’s defense of Israel’s conduct under the Joe Biden administration, acknowledged earlier this month that the Israeli military has “without a doubt” committed war crimes in Gaza.

Israel defies several international resolutions, including those that the top UN tribunal, the International Criminal Court, has issued in regards to the Israeli blockade and the killings in Gaza.

The ICJ also called for Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, to end “as soon as possible” last year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant have been subject to an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Gaza, including using starvation as a means of combat.

Despite the allegations, the majority of the ICC members, especially those in Europe, continue to have close military and trade ties to Israel.

Leo pleaded for the end of Gaza’s war after succeeding the late Pope Francis in May as the first US pontiff.

Leo, the most revered spiritual authority among the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, declared in May, “Ceasefire now.”

We are constantly forced to move around in search of a little food and water and safer shelter from bombardments because of the cries of mothers and fathers who clutch the lifeless bodies of their children.

Searching for healing: Inside one of the last hospitals in Haiti’s capital

A small patio in the hospital’s center, where patients sat on benches beneath a wooden pagoda, provided the most tranquility. After surgery and other lengthy procedures, a small, colorful obstacle course nearby assisted in recovering mobility.

We first met Four-year-old Alexandro and his mother, Youseline Philisma.

When an armed group started igniting Alexandro’s camp where they were living, she was only one month old. He was saved from the flames, still alive but severely burned.

Youseline had taken him to Tabarre’s burn unit, the only one left in the nation, since then.

It’s “a whole new world” when I enter the hospital. My little one is understood by everyone. Everyone “gives us a lot of love,” she said.

The rest of Alexandro’s life will depend on his care in the burn unit. Among the medical professionals who treat him is surgeon Donald Jacques Severe.

Severe has the option to resign. His wife and children already made the trip to the US four years ago. Their home had been overrun by armed fighters. Severe is granted a visa to reside in Canada. He has not left, though, so far.

His co-operation, Xavier Kernizan, attempted to explain the responsibilities he and Severe share.

Someone will struggle if we’re not here, Kernizan said.

We are about to burnout, in my opinion. We can even get into depression at times. However, there is also the satisfying feeling of helping to make someone’s day better, of giving them a little hope in their most difficult times.

However, it’s impossible to predict the viability of Tabarre Hospital if the security situation continues to deteriorate.

My documentary team and I left the hospital gates for the first time in a week on April 11. One of the few places in Port-au-Prince that is still under government control was Petion-Ville, which we were heading for.

A World Food Programme helicopter brings passengers to the Karibe Hotel, where we crossed a football field. Right now, it’s the only way to get out of the capital.

As we flew into the air above the bubble of violence below, the Haitian capital began to shrink as the rotors began to rot, and we clambered into the helicopter. I recall being relieved.

Greece battles wildfire near capital as summer’s first heatwave hits

A fast-moving wildfire has engulfed holiday homes and forest land on a section of the Greek coastline just 40km (25 miles) south of the capital, Athens.

More than 100 firefighters, supported by two dozen firefighting aircraft, battled the wildfire that tore across the coastal area of Palaia Fokaia on Thursday, officials said. The flames were whipped up by high winds as temperatures approached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the country’s first heatwave of the summer.

Fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told reporters that 40 people had been evacuated by police, with evacuation orders issued for a total of five areas. A seaside roadway running across the affected areas was protectively cordoned off, he added.

The coastguard said two patrol boats and nine private vessels were on standby in the Palaia Fokaia area in case an evacuation by sea became necessary.

“We’re telling people to leave their homes”, local town councillor Apostolos Papadakis said on Greece’s state-run ERT television.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but the fire department spokesman said that an arson investigation unit had been sent to the area.

Local mayor Dimitris Loukas said on ERT television that several houses were believed to have been damaged by the blaze.

The wider Athens area, as well as several Aegean islands, were on Level 4 of a 5-level scale measuring the risk of wildfires owing to the weather conditions, with the heatwave expected to last until the weekend.

Early in the week, hundreds of firefighters took four days to bring a major wildfire under control on the eastern Aegean island of Chios, where a state of emergency was declared and more than a dozen evacuation orders issued.

The fire department said one woman had been arrested on suspicion of having contributed to the sparking of that fire.

Greece has spent hundreds of millions of euros to compensate households and farmers for damage related to extreme weather and to acquire new equipment to deal with wildfires.

It has increased its number of firefighters to a record 18, 000 this year.

Iran moves to suspend cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog

Iran’s Guardian Council has ratified a parliament-approved legislation to suspend Tehran’s cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, after the war with Israel and the United States.

Iranian news outlets reported on Thursday that the appointed council, which has veto power over bills approved by lawmakers, found the parliament’s measure to “not to be in contradiction to the Islamic principles and the Constitution”.

Guardian Council spokesperson Hadi Tahan Nazif told the official state news agency, IRNA, that the government is now required to suspend cooperation with the IAEA for the “full respect for the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

Nazif added that the decision was prompted by the “attacks … by the Zionist regime and the United States against peaceful nuclear facilities”.

The bill will be submitted to President Masoud Pezeshkian for final approval and would allow Iran “to benefit from all the entitlements specified under … the Non-Proliferation Treaty, especially with regard to uranium enrichment”, Nazif said.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf suggested that the legislation is now binding after the Guardian Council’s approval.

“Continued cooperation with the agency, which plays a role as a protector of anti-human interests and an agent of the illegitimate Zionist regime through the pretext of war and aggression, is not possible until the security of our nuclear facilities is ensured,” Ghalibaf said in a social media post.

However, the IAEA said on Thursday that it had not received an official communication from Iran regarding the suspension.

Iranian officials have been decrying the IAEA’s failure to condemn Israeli attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities.

Before the war started, Tehran claimed to have obtained Israeli documents that show that the IAEA was passing off information to Israel about Iran’s nuclear programme – allegations that were denied by the agency.

Israel is widely believed to have its own nuclear arsenal, but its nuclear programme has not been monitored by the UN watchdog.

For years, Iranian nuclear sites have been under strict IAEA inspection, including by constant video feed. But it appears that Iran moved its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium from the facilities before they were bombed by Israel and the US during the recent war, putting them out of the view of UN observers for the first time.

US and Israeli officials have argued that the military strikes have set back Iran’s nuclear programme for years. But suspending cooperation with the IAEA could escalate the programme, although Tehran insists that it is not seeking a nuclear weapon.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that Moscow was “interested in Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA continuing”.

“We are interested in everyone respecting the supreme leader of Iran, who has repeatedly stated that Iran does not and will not have plans to create nuclear weapons,”  Lavrov said.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also told journalists that Berlin “urges the Iranian government not to go down this path” and cease cooperation with the board.

On June 13, Israel launched a surprise bombing campaign against Iran, striking residential buildings and nuclear sites and military facilities, killing top commanders and scientists as well as hundreds of civilians.

Iran responded with barrages of missiles that left widespread destruction in Israel and killed at least 29 people.

On Sunday, the US joined Israel and launched unprecedented strikes on Iran’s Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites.

Following Iran’s retaliatory attack on a US military base in Qatar, a ceasefire was reached between the countries.