As the operation ‘Rising Lion’ enters its second week, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck the Iranian regime’s largest nuclear weapons facility in Isfahan, central Iran.
The objective of the renewed strike was to further weaken the fortifications of the nuclear facility in Isfahan. “Overnight, we deepened the strike on the nuclear site in Isfahan and in western Iran,” IDF spokesman Brig. General Effie Defrin said in a press briefing on Saturday. “We had already struck the site in the operation’s opening blow—and last night, we struck it again in a wide-scale strike to reinforce our achievements.”
Tehran has built many of these sites deep beneath the mountains and hundreds of meters below the ground. They have been further reinforced by layers of concrete. It may take multiple strikes by bunker-busting bombs to dismantle some of these rogue facilities. According to the BBC and other Western news outlets, Israel has been using U.S.-made laser-guided bunker-busting bombs to hit these fortified nuclear sites.
Iran was using the sites in Isfahan to enrich weapons-grade uranium for its nuclear program. One of the facilities recently targeted by Israel in Isfahan “was engaged in processing so-called yellowcake into uranium oxide then uranium tetrafluoride and uranium hexafluoride, key steps for further uranium enrichment.” Germany’s DW TV reported.
Other nuclear weapons-related sites were also targeted in the overnight strikes. “In addition, during last night’s strike, we hit another centrifuge production site—adding to two similar sites we attacked in Tehran last week,” the military spokesman added. “These cumulative strikes deal a serious blow to the Iranian regime’s nuclear production capabilities.”
Israel eliminated the IRGC-Quds Force commander, Saeed Izadi, who was widely regarded as the leading Iranian operative behind the October 7 massacre. Izadi, who held the title of the “Commander of the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force,” was Tehran’s pointman for Hamas.
The IDF, in a statement, described Izadi as “one of the main orchestrators of the October 7th massacre and one of the few people who knew about it in advance.”
“Overnight, directed by precise IDF intelligence, IAF fighter jets struck and eliminated in the area of Qom the commander of the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, and the key coordinator between the Iranian regime and the Hamas terrorist organization, Saeed Izadi,” the IDF announced Saturday. “Izadi was eliminated while in a hideout in the heart of Iran, following a prolonged intelligence-gathering effort.”
“Izadi was responsible for military coordination between the senior commanders of the IRGC and the Iranian regime with key figures in the Hamas terrorist organization,” the IDF statement added. “As part of his role, Izadi was responsible for increasing the financial funding from Iran to Hamas for terrorist activities against the State of Israel. He maintained direct contact with the Palestinian terrorist organizations in both Judea and Samaria and Gaza.”
He was overseeing Hamas terrorist operations from his base in Hezbollah-held Lebanon, and working to rebuild the jihadist group in the wake of the ongoing Israeli military operation in Gaza.
“During the war, he was also responsible for directing Hamas forces operating from Lebanon, according to the interests of the Iranian regime in the area,” the Israeli military revealed. “Since then, he has been committed to rebuilding Hamas’ military wing and ensuring that Hamas remains the controlling authority in Gaza.”
The slain IRGC operative was also “one of the founding figures and promoters behind the Iranian regime’s concrete plan to destroy Israel, which was revealed in the opening hours of Operation ‘Rising Lion’,” the IDF disclosed.
He was the architect of a two-stage plan to destroy Israel through an Iranian-led multi-pronged attack. “The first [stage of the assault plan] was a missile and rocket attack by the regime and its proxies across the Middle East, and the second was a large-scale infiltration into Israeli territory by tens of thousands of terrorists from Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, and Judea and Samaria,” the IDF statement added.
“Saeed Izadi was one of the key figures involved in planning and executing the October 7 massacre,” IDF’s Chief of the General Staff, LTG Eyal Zamir, said Saturday. “The blood of thousands of Israelis is on his hands.”
In another blow to Iran’s global terrorist network, the IRGC commander responsible for arming Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis was killed in the latest wave of Israeli airstrikes.
“Overnight, IAF fighter jets … struck and eliminated Behnam Shahriyari, commander of the Quds Force’s Weapons Transfer Unit (Unit 190) in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the military said Saturday.
The slain IRGC commander was involved in weapons shipments to Iranian proxy terrorist groups across the Middle East. “As part of his duties, Shahriyari was responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East and worked for years to arm various terrorist organizations in order to directly advance the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy the State of Israel,” the IDF disclosed. “Shahriyari worked directly with the Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist organizations, alongside the Houthi terrorist regime and other organizations, supplying numerous missiles and rockets, many of which were fired at Israel during the war.”
He was also a major financier of jihadist groups, funneling hundreds of millions of dollars in terrorist activities every year. “Shahriyari commanded the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars annually to various terrorist organizations through his unique connections in Turkey and Lebanon, utilizing a network of shell companies, money changers, and couriers. Furthermore, he led the extensive effort to finance and arm these terrorist organizations—an effort that has resulted in the deaths and injuries of many Israeli civilians and soldiers,” the IDF said.
His killing is a “severe blow to the ability of the terrorist organizations surrounding the State of Israel to regroup and strengthen after being heavily damaged by the IDF during the war,” the IDF statement added.
Hussein Khalil, the bodyguard of the slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in a recent Israeli airstrike inside Iran, the regime-run media claims.
“The Sabereen News agency, affiliated with pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, reported that Hussein Khalil, known as Abu Ali Jawad, the bodyguard of eliminated Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah,” the Israeli news website Ynetnews reported.
With the Israeli Air Force (IAF) targeting launchers all across Iran, fewer missiles crossed into Israel on Friday night. The Israeli air defense systems intercepted most of them; however, debris from ome of missiles fell on a home. “Five rockets were launched from Iran overnight (Saturday), with interceptor fragments landing on the roof of a building in central Israel,” the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS observed. “No injuries were reported.”
They also intercepted dozens of drones. “The IAF intercepted 40 UAVs overnight and struck UAV launchers that were ready for launch toward the State of Israel,” the military said Saturday morning.
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