PRESS RELEASE: Inside the 12-Day War – Former EUCOM, CENTCOM, and DIA Leaders Detail Israel’s Buildup and Operational Execution
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2025
Contact: Blake Johnson
bjohnson@jinsa.org
Inside the 12-Day War: Former EUCOM, CENTCOM, and DIA Leaders Detail Israel’s Buildup and Operational Execution
Washington, DC – The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) today released a new report providing the first independent operational, tactical, and strategic assessment of Israel’s 12-Day War with Iran by senior U.S. flag officers with direct access to the Israeli war cabinet, IDF operations leadership, and intelligence chiefs.
This unparalleled access allowed the authors to reconstruct Israel’s operational decision-making and battlefield performance, sharing unreported details including Israel’s Iron Dome upgrades.
The report, Operation Rising Lion: Insights from Israel’s 12-Day War Against Iran, offers insights into Israel’s strategic thinking that led to the operation, real-world performance of systems including Iron Dome, F-35 strike operations, and long-range precision capabilities, and shares Israel’s own battlefield lessons learned and what they mean for U.S. force posture, CENTCOM planning, and regional stability.
The assessment draws on an August fact-finding mission in which JINSA sent a high-level team of former U.S. combatant command deputy commanders and senior intelligence leaders to Israel for an intensive operational review and briefings. The authors included:
- Gen Charles Wald, USAF (ret.), Former Deputy Commander, U.S. European Command
- LTG Robert Ashley, USA (ret.), Former Director, Defense Intelligence Agency
- VADM Mark Fox, USN (ret.), Former Deputy Commander, U.S. Central Command
“We came away convinced that in Operation Rising Lion, Israel displayed intelligence and military capabilities that exceed any of America’s allies in the world,” said Wald. “More than just operational excellence, Israel achieved major strategic effects advancing not just its own, but America’s national interests. It’s the most impressive military operation I’ve ever seen or been a part of.”
The authors include previously unreported details on the operational tick-tock leading up to Israel’s decision to launch the campaign, how they rethought the operation—altering it from surgical strike to comprehensive campaign—and intelligence breakthroughs that reshaped the battlefield plan in the final days.
What Operation Rising Lion achieved was a strategic resetting, a reassertion of Israeli strength and diminution of Iranian power, but one that will not last without concentrated political will and military might to maintain it.
The authors offer several recommendations based on the Israeli experience that are directly relevant to U.S. military preparedness and force design, among them:
- Double down on defense: The United States and Israel should expand missile-defense cooperation and invest in joint research and development of next-generation air defense capabilities.
- Stay on offense: sustain forward-leaning “campaign between wars,” combining intelligence-driven preemption, readiness, and coordination to prevent Iran and its proxies from regenerating military capacity.
- Deepen regional cooperation: build a more integrated Middle East security architecture—including air and missile defense, maritime, cyber, and intelligence ties.
- Block Iran’s global network: the United States should continue leading and expanding its international diplomatic campaign to isolate Iran politically and economically
The war highlighted not only the necessity for increased joint U.S.-Israel cooperation, but also the importance of preparing for future conflicts, as the threat from Iran is far from over.
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