 "3 ways Israel weakened Iran's defences before attacking it on June 13")
Israel launched Operation Rising Lion on Friday, its largest direct military assault on Iran to date. The early morning attack — which targeted command centres, nuclear facilities and military leadership — marked a critical moment in a simmering conflict that had long hovered on the edge of open warfare. While the world awoke to a barrage of missiles and a spike in oil prices, what many missed was how methodically Israel had prepared for this moment. This campaign was not born overnight. It was the culmination of months, even years, of systematic weakening of Iran’s defences.
From targeted sabotage operations deep inside Iranian territory to the quiet dismantling of Hezbollah’s capacity to act as a credible retaliatory force, Israel laid the groundwork for its offensive with precision. But most crucially, the complete crippling of Iran’s air defence system last October meant the June strikes were carried out with relatively minimal resistance.
1. Neutralising Iran’s air defences: A preemptive strike in October
One of the most consequential moves in Israel’s buildup to the June offensive occurred in late October 2024, when the Israeli Air Force carried out a devastating preemptive strike on Iran’s air defence infrastructure. The timing and scope of this operation were crucial. Although ostensibly a response to a previous Iranian missile barrage, it was, as The Economist notes, also a clear effort to “pave the way for the much wider attack” that would unfold months later.
According to Galei IDF, the Israeli army radio, Israel “destroyed all of Iran’s strategic defence capabilities” during its October strikes. These included the Russian-made S-300 missile systems — the backbone of Iran’s high-altitude air defence — and a newer Iranian domestic model.
In addition to physical destruction, long-range radar systems were taken out, making detection of incoming aircraft or missiles far more difficult. By late October, Iran’s air defences had effectively been reduced to short-range systems that were incapable of defending key nuclear and military sites from long-range Israeli strikes.
The targeting of these systems was not just tactical, it was strategic in its implications. As The Economist later reported in June, the first wave of Operation Rising Lion involved stealth F-35 jets and air-launched ballistic missiles — precisely the kind of high-value aerial assets that would have been at risk from a functioning S-300 defence grid.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWithout these threats, Israeli jets could operate with far greater freedom, striking deep into Iranian territory, including hardened facilities near Natanz , a key uranium-enrichment site confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to have been among the targets.
The success of these preliminary strikes gave Israel near-total air superiority over Iran during the June campaign, allowing them to carry out successive waves of attacks with reduced losses and minimal risk of interception.
2. Disarming Hezbollah: Collapse of Iran’s proxy shield
In years past, any Israeli strike on Iran would have triggered an immediate and coordinated retaliation from Hezbollah, Iran’s powerful Lebanese proxy militia. Yet by June 2025, Hezbollah was in no position to retaliate effectively. Its collapse as a credible deterrent force was the result of Israel’s sustained campaign of attrition that spanned nearly a year, leaving the group militarily hollowed out and politically vulnerable.
Hezbollah’s decline began in earnest after Israel’s intensive assault on Lebanon following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. By September 2024, Israel had executed a series of devastating airstrikes that eliminated much of Hezbollah’s missile stockpile and even decapitated its leadership.
Hassan Nasrallah, the long-serving secretary-general of the group and his deputy Hashem Safieddine were both killed in targeted Israeli strikes. The destruction wasn’t limited to people. It extended to the group’s communication infrastructure, with “exploding pager” operations in September 2024 further crippling their command-and-control capabilities.
Moreover, the overland supply corridor through Syria — historically used by Iran to funnel arms and cash to Hezbollah — was effectively shut down after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.
A new Syrian government, supported by Saudi mediation, prioritised border security and cooperation with Lebanon, creating an inhospitable environment for Iran’s smuggling networks. As a result, Iran’s ability to resupply Hezbollah was drastically reduced.
Further restrictions came from the Lebanese state itself. The new Lebanese government, under Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun, moved aggressively to reassert state control.
Iranian flights suspected of carrying arms were indefinitely suspended at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport and military aid from the US and Gulf states was contingent upon Lebanon’s commitment to disarming Hezbollah.
As Responsible Statecraft noted, this shift forced Iran to change its public rhetoric, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi emphasising “non-interference” and “state-to-state” relations — a marked departure from Tehran’s historical emphasis on Hezbollah as the vanguard of resistance.
By the time Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, Hezbollah was effectively sidelined. The once-formidable deterrent was reduced to a rhetorical presence. Iran’s ability to orchestrate a multi-front retaliation had been shattered, removing one of the key defensive layers in its regional security architecture.
3. Mossad’s sabotage campaign: The invisible war
While Israeli jets dominated the skies above Iran, a quieter war was unfolding within its borders — one that played an equally important role in softening Iranian defences. This was the war of sabotage, espionage and covert operations conducted primarily by Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad.
Speaking to CNN, Axios journalist Barak Ravid revealed that a “senior Israeli official” had confirmed multiple Mossad operations in the months leading up to the June attack. These operations targeted not only Iran’s air defence infrastructure but also its long-range missile capabilities — a threat that could have otherwise served as Iran’s second line of defence after its airspace was penetrated.
Though the full scope of these operations remains classified, several known incidents suggest a wide-ranging campaign. In early 2025, mysterious explosions were reported at missile manufacturing sites in western Iran — the same region from which ballistic missiles had previously been launched at Israel. Iranian state media either downplayed or refused to comment on the incidents, but satellite imagery and local reports confirmed the destruction of several key facilities.
Sabotage also extended to Iran’s nuclear program. According to The Economist, Fereydoon Abbasi, a former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organsation, was assassinated in a targeted strike, and other senior figures in the country’s nuclear infrastructure were reportedly killed or injured. This campaign of “decapitation,” as one Israeli source termed it, was not just about slowing Iran’s technical progress — it aimed to sow confusion, disrupt continuity and create a leadership vacuum ahead of the kinetic military campaign.
The combined impact of these operations significantly degraded Iran’s ability to launch a coordinated defence. According to Galei IDF, while Iran still had over 2,000 long-range ballistic missiles in its inventory, its production and assembly lines had been severely disrupted. In other words, Iran might still possess the missiles — but not the means to replace them quickly or mount a sustained campaign of retaliation.
A perfect storm of Israeli strategy
Israel’s attack on Iran on June 13 did not come from a place of sudden provocation or spontaneous escalation. It was the final act in a carefully orchestrated strategy designed to neuter Iran’s ability to defend itself or strike back effectively.
By dismantling Iran’s air defences in October, gutting Hezbollah’s retaliatory potential over the course of a year and conducting sabotage campaigns targeting missile and nuclear capabilities, Israel created a strategic environment in which it could strike with maximal force and minimal risk.
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