By In Depth Reports team
This investigation reveals exclusive details about Israel’s recent airstrike on Iran described as one of the most precise and coordinated intelligence-led military operations in modern history.
Key Highlights:
- Years of Preparation: The strike was the result of a multi-year effort involving tech executives, elite military units like Unit 9900, and Mossad operatives, all contributing to a sophisticated “target bank” of Iranian military leaders, nuclear sites, and missile platforms.
- Diverse Intelligence Tools: Israel used modified smartphones, commercial satellites, micro-drones hidden in civilian vehicles, and locally recruited agents to infiltrate Iranian systems.
- Opening Strike: Executed within minutes, it targeted four critical areas: senior commanders, air-defense networks, parts of two major nuclear facilities, and missile launch zones in western Iran.
- Unmatched Intelligence Superiority: The operation showcased Israel’s deep penetration into Iran’s security infrastructure. Mossad carried out assassinations, sabotage missions, and even released rare footage of operations inside Iranian territory.
- Iranian Confusion and Panic: Iranian officials scrambled in the aftermath warning citizens to look for hidden drones and advising top personnel to ditch smartphones amid fear of digital surveillance.
- A Stark Contrast to October 7: Analysts note that Israel’s obsession with Iran may have contributed to its failure to anticipate Hamas’s October 7 attack a point echoed by former intelligence officer Miri Eisin, who warned against the arrogance that can follow such success.
- What Comes Next: Despite Israel’s air dominance, experts predict Iran will respond asymmetrically through cyberattacks, proxy warfare, or covert retaliation.
In early 2024, a senior executive in the European telecom branch of an Israeli company received an unusual request from a longtime friend in Tel Aviv: to design a phone that looked like a cheap Android device but was capable of transmitting encrypted traffic mimicking social media usage. Around the same time, a former intelligence officer turned health-tech entrepreneur was approached by Israel’s elite Unit 9900 to repurpose an algorithm he had developed during his military service—this time, to distinguish between fuel trucks and missile fuel convoys from satellite imagery.
Neither man knew it at the time, but their contributions were pieces of a much larger puzzle—one that culminated in what many are calling the most sophisticated pre-emptive military strike in Israel’s modern history. Last week, Israel launched a coordinated air assault deep into Iranian territory, eliminating over a dozen high-ranking military and nuclear figures and crippling key defense systems before Iran could react.
“You don’t just wake up and take out fifteen strategic targets across a country the size of Iran,” said a former Israeli defense official. “This was years of building, billions of shekels invested, and every intelligence stream you can imagine converging into a single night.”
A Long Shadow War
For over a decade, Israel has waged a shadow war against Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But what unfolded last week represents a dramatic shift from the covert to the overt.
Sources close to Israel’s intelligence apparatus, speaking to InDepthReports on condition of anonymity, described a multi-year campaign that relied on a blend of cutting-edge technologies, human intelligence, and operational daring. Commercial satellites, hacked phones, local agents, and even micro-drone swarms hidden in civilian vehicles were all part of a vast surveillance and targeting network.
“What you saw wasn’t just firepower it was knowledge,” said Miri Eisin, a former senior officer in Israeli military intelligence. “It was about being inside their systems. Not just knowing what Iran might do, but knowing what Iran will do and preempting it.”
Operation “Shock and Awe”
According to Israeli defense sources, the intelligence division Aman led target selection, focusing on what it called “centers of gravity”: command networks, nuclear infrastructure, and missile deployment zones. A “kill list” of over 100 names was distilled down to a dozen priority targets in the final days before the strike.
The initial wave of attacks, conducted within minutes, focused on four target categories:
- Senior Revolutionary Guard commanders and nuclear scientists,
- Air-defense networks around Natanz and Fordow,
- Components of two major nuclear facilities,
- Missile launch zones in western Iran.
“The goal was to delay Iran’s ability to coordinate a response,” said an Israeli intelligence analyst. “By removing decision-makers and destroying the defense envelope, we bought a critical window.”
An Intelligence Powerhouse
Much of Israel’s success hinged on its ability to infiltrate Iran’s internal security and defense sectors. In recent years, Mossad has conducted a string of high-profile assassinations, sabotage operations, and intelligence thefts inside Iran—including the theft of Iran’s secret nuclear archive in 2018.
In what appears to be a psychological front to the campaign, Mossad recently released rare footage showing agents operating deep inside Iranian cities, launching drones and placing guided munitions.
“This is unprecedented,” said a former U.S. defense official familiar with the region. “I’ve never seen an intelligence service have such a complete grasp of its adversary’s contingency plans and command structure.”
Iranian Confusion and Israeli Confidence
The operation sent shockwaves through Iran’s security establishment. A senior former commander in the IRGC reportedly urged citizens to check rooftops for mini-drones allegedly smuggled in by opposition groups. Meanwhile, police chief Ahmad Reza Radan called on Israeli agents to surrender for “Islamic clemency.”
The Iranian Parliament, facing public anger and internal embarrassment, debated banning smartphones for high-level officials after reports that phones were used in tracking and targeting.
“We’ve told our people for years that Israel is watching,” said a Tehran-based analyst. “But no one imagined this level of penetration.”
From October 7 to Tehran: A Strategic Shift
The scale and precision of the Iran strike stands in stark contrast to Israel’s failure to prevent the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. Analysts suggest that much of Israel’s intelligence resources had been diverted for years toward countering Iran.
“Iran was always the real prize,” said Eisin. “It was Netanyahu’s obsession and the crown jewel of Israeli intelligence focus. What happened with Hamas was a blind spot born of prioritization.”
Yet, even with the apparent success, voices within the Israeli establishment caution against overconfidence.
“These operations breed a certain arrogance,” Eisin added. “And arrogance can be dangerous in this region.”
After the Strike: What Comes Next?
With much of Iran’s air-defense grid in disarray, Israeli drones and jets reportedly roam the skies with near impunity. While Iran claimed to have downed at least one Hermes 900 drone, Israel has reported no significant material losses.
But analysts warn that the second phase of the conflict may not be fought in the open.
“Iran will respond asymmetrically—through proxies, cyber, sabotage,” said the U.S. official. “This story is far from over.”
For now, though, Israel’s defense establishment is basking in what many view as the most effective combined intelligence and military operation in its history—one that has not only reshaped the battlefield, but redrawn the map of what is possible in modern espionage warfare.