The security source said Mossad commandos had covertly deployed weapons across Iran, including explosive drones that were launched at a surface-to-surface missile base near Tehran.
The Mossad commandos also fired precision-guided weapons systems at Iranian surface-to-air missile systems as the Israeli attack got underway, reducing the threat to Israeli warplanes.
A grainy black and white video distributed by Mossad showed what it said was the organisation’s operational force — two camouflaged figures crouched in what looks like desert terrain, deploying the precision weapons system meant to destroy Iran’s air defence systems.
Some of the operation’s components would have taken years to be put together, said Sima Shine, a former chief Mossad analyst and now a researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).
The decision to strike Iran was made on Monday, the same day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump spoke by phone, when Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and military chief Eyal Zamir decided the operation would begin on Friday, said a second source, an Israeli defence official.
Their discussion was held after the conversation between Trump and Netanyahu, a third official, close to Netanyahu, said.
The final green light was given by Netanyahu’s security cabinet, which convened on Thursday night.
In the days leading up to the strikes, Israel played out a ploy to create the impression an attack was not imminent, according to a fourth source, also an Israeli official.
False reports suggesting that a rift between Israel and the United States had emerged during Netanyahu and Trump’s phone call on Monday were not denied, the fourth source said.
A press release about a visit by Katz, Zamir and the head of Israel’s Air Force Tomer Bar to an air force base mentioned Gaza, Yemen and Lebanon — but not Iran.
The fourth source said that the ruse included misleading information given in press briefings. As the attack unfolded in the early hours of Friday, some Israeli journalists pointed to one such briefing, according to which Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad Head David Barnea were to be sent to Washington ahead of the next round of nuclear talks on Sunday.
Dermer later appeared seated with Netanyahu at Israel’s defence headquarters bunker in Tel Aviv, in a video distributed by the prime minister’s office.
A fifth, military source said that Israel had been able to surprise Iran but since the operation was not over, there could be “difficult days” ahead.
Iran, which fired ballistic missiles at Israel when they traded blows last year, has promised “harsh punishment” in response to the attack. Israel said it had intercepted many of the 100 drones launched towards Israeli territory in retaliation.
Decision to strike Iran was made the same day Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone, Israeli defence official says.
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