Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening credited the Mossad’s Sept. 17-18 pager operation in Lebanon with eventually having brought about the Jewish state’s victory over Iran.
“The Mossad operation with the pagers set in motion everything that happened afterward,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the Israeli spy agency’s headquarters, listing the death of Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well as the collapse of the Syrian regime and Jerusalem’s joint military action with Washington against Tehran.
“Under the leadership of Mossad Director David Barnea, the agency proved its deep commitment to eliminating the leading minds and striking the Iranian nuclear program,” the Israeli premier stated.
The Mossad’s “phenomenal achievements combined very well with the great achievements of the IDF. This was a very great force multiplier,” he said, hailing the agency’s contributions to the campaign as “immense.”
Barnea revealed that his organization had been preparing “special and intelligence operations against the Iranian threat” for years before the Israel Defense Forces launched “Operation Rising Lion” on June 13.
“Today, the State of Israel is in a powerful and strategic position, thanks to the outstanding cooperation with the military, which showed astounding capabilities alongside the Mossad,” Barnea stated.
The Jewish state’s spy chief, in his public remarks on Wednesday, thanked the “responsible military leadership, outstanding civilian leadership and, of course, diplomatic leadership by you, Mr. Prime Minister.”
“Our mission is not over,” Barnea continued, saying his men and women were committed to continuing their efforts “with determination, in order to prevent future Iranian threats to the State of Israel, and to striving to fully utilize the strategic opportunities before us.”
Jerusalem has devastated Hezbollah, Iran’s terrorist army in Lebanon, in a series of military operations that started with the Mossad’s Sept. 17-18 pager attacks that wounded thousands of its operatives, in response to the organization’s attacks in support of Palestinian Hamas in Gaza.
On Sept. 27, Israel dropped at least a dozen 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on a Beirut bunker, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Netanyahu has credited the IDF’s operations against Hezbollah and Iran as having laid the groundwork for the removal of the Bashar Assad regime from Syria in December at the hands of Sunni jihadists.
During “Operation Rising Lion,” the Israeli and U.S. military neutralized Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, with the American strikes obliterating key regime nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
