The airstrikes by Israeli F-35 fighter jets on Iran overnight Thursday appeared to be the initial launch of Israel’s war on Iran. However, the airstrikes were preempted by internal attacks carried out by covert teams on the ground using drones that were smuggled into the Islamic Republic part by part over months.

Israel smuggled parts of hundreds of quadcopter drones rigged with explosives into Iran—in suitcases, trucks, and shipping containers, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Munitions that could be fired from unmanned platforms were also smuggled in, said people familiar with the operation.

The Mossad brought in the drones and munitions through commercial channels via usually unwitting business partners. Israel trained the team leaders in third countries, and the leaders then trained the teams.

Inside Iran, the teams assembled the drones. Prior to Israel’s opening airstrikes, small teams of Mossad agents positioned themselves near Iran’s air-defense systems and missile launch sites. When the attack by air began, the teams destroyed air defense systems and missile launchers as they were rolled out to fire at Israel.

According to the report, the teams on the ground destroyed dozens of missiles before they could be fired in the initial hours of the attack. They also destroyed Iran’s air defense systems, allowing Israel freedom of action in the air.

Although Iran ultimately fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel beginning on Friday, Israel had expected a much more severe response, said Sima Shine, a former senior intelligence officer in the Mossad and now head of the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank in Tel Aviv.

However, Iran still has a large arsenal of ballistic missiles.

“We expected much more,” Shine said. “But that doesn’t mean we won’t have much more today or tomorrow.”

On a brighter note, Shine noted that Israel’s sophisticated intelligence operations in the heart of Iran have an important ancillary effect.

“No one in Iran in the high echelons can be sure he isn’t known to Israeli intelligence and won’t be the target,” she said. “It’s not just the damage caused but the nervousness it brings.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)