Israel confirmed on Wednesday that soldiers from Defense Forces (FDI) performed secret operations in Iranian territory during the so-called “12-day war.” The information was announced by Israeli Chief of Staff, General Eyal Zamir, in television pronouncement, marking the first time the country’s army admits to having led such missions within Iran amid the recent conflict between the two nations.
According to Zamir, FDI command units, in coordination with the Mossad intelligence agency, acted secretly on Iranian soil during the hostility period began on the 13th, when Israel launched a series of air attacks to nullify the Iranian nuclear program.
“We have achieved the full control of Iranian airspace and from all places we decided to operate. This was possible, among other things, to the coordination and tactical mistake promoted by our Air Force and our terrestrial command units. Forces have acted in depths of the enemy territory and provided us with freedom of operational action,” said the general.
The announcement occurs hours after Iranian regime authorities perform four people accused of collaborating with the Israeli Intelligence Service Mossad, on the grounds of “corruption on the land” and actions against state security.
During the war, Israel’s defense forces said they caused severe damage to Iran’s nuclear program. According to Zamir, the operations performed were not punctual actions, but a systemic coup.
“Damage to the nuclear program was not located, but systemic (…). The accumulated result allows us to determine that the Iranian nuclear project was damaged, large and deep, and had a delay of years.”
The Israeli Atomic Energy Commission reported that Fordow’s enrichment plant, one of Iran’s main nuclear facilities, was “unusable” after the joint attack by the United States on Saturday (21).
Still during his statement, Eyal Zamir stressed that the situation in the region remains unstable even after the ceasefire signed at the end of the fighting. “We must remain on alert, many challenges still await us,” he said. Zamir also honored Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza during operations against the terrorist group Hamas.
