"An Israeli official speaking to the Times of Israel exposed how this was all a ruse. The verbal tension between Trump and Netanyahu, Trump’s plea for restraint before the weekend talks, and even other peripheral dialogues over new hostage deals in Gaza, and the potential collapse of Netanyahu’s coalition government earlier this week, had been a distracting ruse to convince Iran that an Israeli attack would not happen before Sunday.
How Israel Strikes Iran Nuclear Sites How Israel Strikes Iran Nuclear Sites
"The decades-long showdown, muscle flexing, and verbal sparring between Iran and Israel reached a new milestone in the early morning hours of Friday, June 13, as Israel carried out massive attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure and repelled retaliatory missile and drone barrages from Iran over Israeli civilian centers.
"Sirens went off across Israel around 3 AM on Friday as the population scrambled out of bed for the nearest bomb shelter, anticipating the all-too-familiar sound of rocket interceptions overhead. But no interceptions came, and the early morning hours remained uncannily quiet.
"When sirens stopped, a series of cell phone notifications alerted the population that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) had initiated Operation Rising Lion to cripple Iran’s nuclear capabilities and that Israel was now under a new state of emergency for Iranian retaliation.
Operation Rising Lion
"The opening salvos of Rising Lion involved over 200 IAF jets easily traversing Syrian and Iraqi airspace to drop more than 330 munitions on key Iranian targets. The operation unfolded in five successive waves throughout Friday morning and afternoon, causing devastating damage to Iran’s uranium enrichment and nuclear facilities, destroying ballistic missile depots, launch sites, military and defense infrastructure, and executing targeted strikes on top Iranian military and nuclear officials. Reports confirmed 78 dead with more than 300 wounded.
"The Natanz uranium enrichment facility, Iran’s largest underground nuclear site with the infrastructure to enrich military-grade uranium, was attacked multiple times while the country’s other two enrichment centers at Fordo and near Isfahan were not hit.
"The attack had been years in planning, evident by Mossad operations to smuggle weapons systems, drones, and commandos inside Iran that were activated on Friday morning to destroy Iran’s surface-to-air defense systems, allowing Israeli jets to have air superiority.
"The objective was to cripple Iran’s nuclear program. For two months, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had engaged the Iranian regime in talks concerning the future of its nuclear program and concerns over obtaining nuclear weapons. As talks faltered and stalled, Israel grew increasingly concerned at the possibility that Iran was on the verge of producing a nuclear weapon if not already possessing one." . . .
