ed note–please see the commentary here.
YnetNews
A month after the war with Iran had come to a close, new details continue to emerge about Israel’s targeted killings of senior Iranian officials and the extensive damage inflicted on the Islamic Republic.
The opposition-linked outlet Iran International revealed details describing what it called ‘one of the most unusual security and military defeats of the modern era.’
An Israeli strike in Tehran
According to the report, Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency deliberately leaked the date of an Israeli attack through an agent close to Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to lure him to a location where his assassination had been planned.
The report also revealed that this was not an isolated event.
Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force, was summoned along with his deputies to a meeting arranged by Mossad. Once assembled, the group was targeted by a single missile strike that killed them all. Although the phone call inviting them was declared a fake, it was reportedly so convincing that the commanders agreed to attend.
Mossad’s infiltration into the personal lives of senior Iranian officials was reportedly so precise that Israel was able to assassinate Ali Shadmani, the successor to Gholam Ali Rashid as commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the country’s supreme wartime military command, only four days after Rashid’s killing.
According to Iran International, Israel tracked Shadmani through a highly sophisticated operation. Mossad obtained a DNA sample via digital means and used artificial intelligence-based facial recognition and genetic profiling to identify him. Malware was implanted into Tehran’s city security cameras, which located Shadmani in the Zaferania neighborhood.
On June 27, he was killed by a drone strike.
Additionally, the head of IRGC intelligence and two deputies were killed in another counterintelligence operation after being lured to a safe house in Kurdbacheh alley by an agent.
On Tuesday, Iran’s communications minister reported that the country experienced more than 20,000 cyberattacks during the war. ‘In many cases, we managed to counter the attacks,’ he said.
At the same time, Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said that at least 1,062 people were killed during the fighting with Israel, including 102 women and 38 children.