Israel prepared Iran attacks months in advance, IDF reveals

Israeli intelligence gathered comprehensive information on Iran’s air defense network months before the beginning of Operation Rising Lion, enabling the IDF to dismantle Iran’s defense and achieve air superiority, IDF says.

By World Israel News Staff

The Israeli military laid the groundwork for its air campaign against Iran months in advance, the IDF said on Thursday.

In a statement released by the army’s spokesperson’s office, the IDF revealed details regarding the comprehensive intelligence-gathering operation ahead of Operation Rising Lion, which enabled the Israel Air Force to effectively dismantle Iran’s air defense network.

According to the IDF, during the months leading up to the June operation, a special intelligence unit within the IAF and the Military Intelligence Directorate, tasked with charting a path for the IDF to gain air superiority over Iran, collected in-depth information on Iranian air defense sites across the country.

“Our mission is to create superiority over the enemy’s technological capabilities and thereby enable deep strikes in Iran,” said Pvt. B., an intelligence analyst. “It’s a very difficult task — especially against a large power with advanced defense systems.”

The Air Force intel unit tracked the operations Iranian radar stations and missile launchers 1,500 to 2,000 kilometers away, collecting detailed intelligence on both the capabilities and the vulnerabilities of Iran’s air defenses.

“From American-made SAMs dating back to the previous regime, to Eastern European systems and domestically produced modern systems whose development and deployment have recently accelerated — the Iranians have a wide array of air defense tools,” Pvt. B said. “We aim to understand each one to its most intimate level.”

The team also analyzed the behavior of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ leadership in order to predict its reactions to Israeli strikes.

“The key to our mission is trying to analyze what’s going on inside the war rooms of the hostile army — to really understand how they’ll react in real time, where they’ll position defenses, where they expect us to strike, and what they understand about IDF operational doctrine during wartime,” Pvt. B. continued.

Once the operation commenced in the early hours of June 13th, the IAF intel unit tracked Iranian targets in real time.

“We were checking if they’re still in position or have been moved and constantly passing additional targets to the control cell located right next to the joint operations complex.”