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 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.
In Shahr-e Rey, south of Tehran, security forces discovered a hacked drone factory.
Israeli agents assembled and stored UAVs meant for terrorist operations in the three-story building.
Additionally, over 200 kg of explosives and homemade bombs were discovered by authorities. pic. twitter.com/wrZz1vc12x
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.
