Operation “Rising Lion”

For years, the Iranian regime has been waging a direct and indirect campaign of terror against the State of Israel in an attempt to achieve its ultimate goal - the destruction of the State of Israel.

It has been leading the axis responsible for terrorist attacks against Israel since and including the October 7th Massacre.

Iran funds and directs terrorist activities via its proxies across the Middle East. It funded the Hamas terror organization which was responsible for the October 7th Massacre, it funded and aided Hezbollah and the Houthis, and it directly attacked Israel twice in the largest ballistic missile attack in recorded history.

In recent years, senior Iranian officials, together with Hezbollah and Hamas, have put together a concrete plan to destroy the State of Israel. IDF Intelligence has obtained over the years vast amounts of evidence proving this.

In order to achieve their goals of bringing about the destruction of Israel, Iran has been working hard to obtain a nuclear weapon - weapons of mass destruction.

In recent months, we have accumulated intelligence and evidence that the Iranian regime is approaching the point of no return, enabling the regime to obtain a nuclear weapon within a short period of time.

The State of Israel has been left with no choice. The IDF has the obligation to ensure that a regime whose objective is to destroy our state and our people cannot obtain weapons of mass destruction.

In response to this ongoing and quickly growing threat, one which could put not only Israel at risk, but the greater world as well, the IDF launched Operation “Rising Lion”, a preemptive, precise, combined offensive based on precise intelligence to strike Iran's nuclear program.

We launched this operation at the most appropriate timing in light of the concrete threat, which had to be dealt with now. This operation was carried out in response to a direct and existential threat to the State of Israel. The IDF struck before Iran had the ability to strike us, and to strike us with nuclear weapons. We had no other choice but to act before.

Currently, three waves of strikes have been conducted. The first stage, carried out around 200 aircraft over 2,000 km from Israel, included over 100 strikes on dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets and facilities, across Iran, and senior members of the Iranian General Staff and leaders of the nuclear program. For the first time ever, 200 fighter jets took off in unison, striking precisely on predetermined targets in places we have never struck before.

We have also, in recent hours, completed a large-scale strike against the aerial defense array of the Iranian regime in western Iran. As part of the strikes, dozens of radars and surface-to-air missile launchers were destroyed.

I can confirm that in our first wave of strikes, which were conducted simultaneously and in different places, senior Iranian figures in Iran’s security leadership were eliminated:

• The Iranian Chief of Staff, Bagheri - Bagheri was the highest-ranking military officer in Iran’s army.

• The Commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami - Responsible for directing Iran’s military force in the Middle East, and commanded the army’s different forces, including the ground, air, naval and “Quds Force”.

• Head of the Emergency Command, Gholam-Ali Rashid - Rashid served as the commander of the Iranian’s Khatam al-Anbiya emergency command system.

• The Commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Forces, Amir Ali Hajizadeh - responsible for repeated attacks against Israeli civilians and commanding Iran’s direct missile and UAV attacks against Israel in October 2024 and the direct missile strike in April 2024.

Additionally, we can now reveal that earlier today we struck the nuclear facility in Isfahan, in addition to the Natanz facility, the largest uranium enrichment site in Iran - this further hinders Iran’s capabilities and ability to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

Earlier today, Iran launched many dozens of UAVs from its territory toward the State of Israel. All defense systems operated to intercept the threats.

Just a few hours ago Iran launched a barrage of missiles - close to 100 ballistic missiles - towards civilian population centers in Israel, damaging residential buildings and infrastructure.

Most of the ballistic missiles were intercepted by aerial defense systems but this defense, sadly, is not hermetic.

This reality - where close to 100 ballistic missiles launched directly towards its city centers, at its citizens - would not have been tolerated by another country in the world.

This is an ongoing operation, still at its early stages, and we have prepared for a wide range of scenarios in defense and offense that may be needed, all of which put our citizens' safety first.

The IDF is ready to continue to act as needed. We have an obligation to defend our citizens and we will continue to do so, when and wherever it is required, as we have done in the past.

We are acting according to a well-structured plan, but we mustn’t become complacent; we are aware of the enemy’s intention to harm us, and there will be more such attempts. We are on high alert, constantly building the situational assessment, and prepared to defend Israeli civilians on all fronts.

We cannot live under a real threat to our security - we will continue to fight for the future of our people and our children - for a better, safer future.

The IDF is at a high level of alert and is constantly building the situational assessment.

More updates will be given in accordance with the unfolding situation.

Until next time,
LTC Nadav Shoshani