How Israel managed to penetrate deep inside Iranpublished at 15:33 British Summer Time
15:33 BST
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption,
A building damaged in an Israeli strike on Tehran is seen from below
The
large-scale Israeli attacks appeared to have three main objectives:
Damage
Iran’s nuclear programme
Degrade its defence capabilities
And assassinate part of its military and scientific leadership
The
strategy, which would have been years in the making, seems similar to the one
Israel successfully applied against Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group in
Lebanon, that was severely weakened in last year’s war.
And
just like it did with Hezbollah, Israel managed to penetrate deep inside Iran.
It had detailed and accurate information about some of the country’s top
military officials and scientists, while some of the strikes were launched from
inside Iranian territory.
The
timing of the attack may have come as a surprise, but Israeli officials have for
years raised concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme, describing it as an
existential threat to Israel.
Iran has consistently denied it is seeking
weapons and says its programme is for peaceful purposes.
In
recent months, however, Israel talked about a unique window of opportunity to
strike Iranian facilities: Iran’s air defences had been damaged by Israeli
attacks last year and its proxies in the region, part of what Tehran calls the
Axis of Resistance, had been degraded, including Hezbollah.