How Israeli spies and pilots crippled an Iranian counterstrike

The U.S. and Israel were bracing for swift, fierce retaliation from Iran overnight.

• Thanks to intricately planned maneuvers by Israeli spies and pilots — and shock and disarray on the Iranian side — there was silence.

Zoom in: As it became clear Israel was about to attack, the commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' air force convened in a bunker to coordinate the response.

• But Israel knew that emergency protocol, and the location of the bunker. They destroyed it, killing the overall commander and the heads of the drone and air defense forces. "The fact that there was nobody to give the order neutralized an immediate Iranian response," an Israeli official said.
• They were among the more than two dozen Iranian commanders targeted in a sprawling attack on Iran's military command-and-control. The heads of the IRGC, the Iranian military and Iran's emergency military headquarters were all eliminated in the opening salvo.
• Another key target was Iran's air defense systems and radars. Israeli intelligence mapped their locations, and most were hit by the Israeli Air Force in the opening strike. That gave the IDF virtually unchallenged freedom of operation in Iran's skies.

Meanwhile on the ground, Israel's Mossad spy agency was conducting a series of covert sabotage operations deep inside Iran to take out air defenses and ballistic missile launchers.

• Hundreds of Mossad agents both inside Iran and back in headquarters were involved, including a special unit of Iranian operatives working for Mossad.
• In central Iran, Mossad commando units had positioned guided weapons systems in open areas near Iranian surface-to-air missile launchers.
• In another area inside Iran, Mossad covertly deployed weapon systems and sophisticated technologies hidden in vehicles. When the Israeli attack began, these weapons were launched and destroyed Iranian air defense targets.

Mossad also established an attack drone base inside Iran with drones that were smuggled in long before the operation, the Israeli intelligence official said.

• During the Israeli strike, the drones were activated and launched toward surface-to-surface missile launchers located at the Esfajabad base near Tehran, destroying ballistic missiles there before they could be launched towards Israel.

The stakes: The IDF was prepared for a worst-case scenario in which Iran would swiftly launch 300-500 ballistic missiles toward Israel, the Israeli intelligence official said.

• Instead, Iran responded hours later with around 100 drones which were easily defeated.

State of play: The IDF continued pounding Iranian ballistic missile targets around the country on Friday to prevent a more significant Iranian retaliation.

• "Dozens of launchers, surface-to-surface missile storage sites, and additional military facilities were destroyed. At one of the targeted sites in western Iran, a unique launch mechanism was discovered that had been concealed inside shipping containers," the IDF said in a statement.

What to watch: Iran's top leaders stressed on Friday that Iran will take revenge and Israel will pay a heavy price. As of Friday afternoon local time, the response was still limited.

• Israeli officials say that while they managed to scuttle an immediate counterstrike, they believe the Iranians will launch a significant attack in the coming hours.
• "We think they want to prepare a significant missile barrage that would be big and coordinated in order to try and overwhelm our missile defense systems," an Israeli official said.

Go deeper: Trump tells Axios Israel's attack could help him make a deal