WSJ: Israel drops 10,000 munitions on Iranian security forces

Israel has dropped 10,000 munitions on thousands of targets, including more than 2,200 sites linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Basij, and internal security forces, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports, citing target lists and damage assessments.

The campaign, launched following the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, systematically lured security personnel out of headquarters to sports stadiums and shelters under bridges to weaken regime control and demonstrate to Iranians that security forces were vulnerable.

Israel monitored the sites as they became crowded and struck them before the end of the first week. According to battle-damage reports reviewed by the Journal, these attacks were among the most lethal of the conflict, killing hundreds of security and military personnel, most notably at Azadi Stadium, a major soccer venue.

Meanwhile, Israeli intelligence began calling individual commanders, threatening them and their families by name if they did not step aside in the event of an uprising, according to sources familiar with the matter. 

The Journal reviewed a recording of one such call between a senior Iranian police commander and a Mossad agent, Israel’s foreign-intelligence service.

“Can you hear me?” the Mossad agent asked in Farsi. “We know everything about you. You are on our blacklist, and we have all the information about you.”

“OK,” the commander replied in the recording.

“I called to warn you in advance that you should stand with your people’s side,” the Mossad agent said. “And if you will not do that, your destiny will be as your leader. Do you hear me?”

“Brother, I swear on the Quran, I’m not your enemy,” the commander said. “I’m a dead man already. Just please come help us.”

On the ground, Israel targeted police warehouses, destroying computer equipment, vehicles, and police gear. Motorcycle units, which have played a key role in suppressing protests, were also targeted. 

At one point, Israel struck approximately 34 sites tied to internal-security forces in Ilam Province, a western Iranian region near the Iraqi border with a significant Kurdish population, according to a target list seen by the Journal.

By Jeyhun Aghazada