‘Probably the Most Impressive Operation I’ve Ever Seen’

A team of former senior United States military commanders released in recent days a comprehensive assessment of the 12-day war (June 13 – 25) fought between Israel and Iran, revealing new details about the scope, speed and strategic impact of the operations that reshaped the Middle East earlier this year.

The report, published on Nov. 20 by the Washington D.C.-based Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), concludes that Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion” was an “operational masterpiece” that not only removed an existential threat to the Jewish state by severely degrading Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, but also advanced American national security interests.

The assessment drew on an August fact-finding mission to Israel by a delegation that included Gen. Charles Wald (United States Air Force, ret.), former deputy commander of U.S. European Command; Lt. Gen. (United States Army, ret.) Robert Ashley, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; and Vice Adm. Mark Fox (United States Navy, ret.), former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command.

The authors were granted significant access to Israel’s government, intelligence community and the Israel Defense Forces to reconstruct the decision-making process and battlefield performance of the campaign.

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