Israel eliminates Iran’s top military leaders and strikes nuclear facility in unprecedented attack

In the early morning hours of Friday, Israel unleashed an unprecedented targeted attack against Iran.

Over 200 Israeli jets struck Iran’s largest nuclear facility and took out some of Tehran’s top military leaders and nuclear scientists in targeted strikes. It was the largest attack against the country since the Iran-Iraq war in the 80s.

The attack was dubbed Operation Rising Lion, a reference to Iran’s imperial flag, which depicts a lion wielding a scimitar, and was used until the Iranian Revolution of 1979 overthrew the monarchy and established the Islamist Republic of Iran.

Israel Defense Forces called today’s attacks the first stage of the strike.

Among the assassinated Iranian leaders is the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces General Mohammed Bagheri, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGS) Hossein Salami, and the commander of Iran’s Emergency Command, the Israeli Defense Forces said on X.

The commander of IRGC’s Air Force and the branch’s senior leadership were also assassinated. They were gathered in an underground command center planning an attack against Israel, when they were targeted, the IDF said.

In contrast to Iran’s regular military whose mandate is to protect the country’s sovereignty, IRGC’s mandate is to protect the country’s Islamic republic. IRGC has been funding militant and terrorist groups across the region, including the Houthis in Yemen.

Many of the eliminated commanders and scientists were taken out in precision strikes while they were sleeping in their homes.

Military installations, including radar sites and missile silos, were also hit.

The country’s nuclear program also suffered a setback with Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility – the country’s largest – being struck.

Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, which is built inside a mountain, and the Ishafan nuclear facility were not targeted, Iranian officials told the International Atomic Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran’s military nuclear program is spread out in these three facilities; a facility in Khondab is believed to be used for civilian purposes.

“Today, Iran is closer than ever to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the Iranian regime are an existential threat to the State of Israel and to the wider world,” IDF wrote on X.

“The State of Israel has no choice but to fulfill the obligation to act in defense of its citizens and will continue to do so everywhere it is required to do so, as we have done in the past,” it added.

According to the IDF, Iran’s efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon had accelerated in recent months and it was “nearing the point of no return” towards developing such a weapon.

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Mossad agents had reportedly infiltrated Iran and took out Iranian air defense assets to limit Tehran’s ability to defend and ballistic missile sites to prevent it from immediate retaliating.

“To the brave people of Iran: our fight is not with you. Our fight is with the brutal dictatorship that has oppressed you for 46 years. I believe that the day of you liberation is near, and when that happens the great friendship between our ancient peoples will flourish again,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address.

Iran called the attach a declaration of war and launched suicide drones against Israel in response.

“With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see,” Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, wrote on X.

U.S. officials have denied that the U.S. had any involvement in or knowledge of the attack.

An emergency situation has been declared across Israel in anticipation of Iranian retaliatory strikes.

Feature Image: Range of Iran’s missiles. (Israeli Defense Forces)

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