Operation Yeruham

Operation Yeruham was a pre-emptive military strike by Israel against nuclear facilities in Iran.

Background
After sanctions repeatedly failed to have any effect, Israel began to take military and civil defense preparations against a possible Iranian nuclear strike. Training and top-secret weapons development was conducted, while the public was subjected to civil defense drills. Following the collapse of North Korea after the collapse of the economy, and its annexation by South Korea, Iran offered asylum for all North Korean nuclear scientists. Subsequently, the Mossad began increased espionage operations inside Iran, and all Israeli spy satellites concentrated on Iranian nuclear facilities. In June 2009, Mossad director Meir Dagan announced that Iran would have a handful of operational nuclear weapons by 2011.

After the election of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government launched a fresh push for sanctions on Iran, but to little avail. One of Netanyahu's key campaign promises was that he would stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

On January 30, the Mossad informed Prime Minister Netanyahu that Iran had bought a fresh shipment of uranium from Russia, and would have nuclear capabilities in the next six to eight months. An emergency meeting of the Israeli Security Cabinet took place in Jerusalem, with the media being told that it had to do with the Middle East peace process. The Security Cabinet unanimously voted to authorize the Israeli Defense Ministry to "take all necessary steps to safeguard the existence of the State of Israel".

A select group of pilots was chosen, and underwent two months of training over the Negev. The public was kept unaware, and only a handful of Israeli officials knew of it. All officials who knew of it always discussed it in code-words over the phone, and always met in a secret location to plan the operation. Based on intelligence and satellite surveillance, four targets were selected:


 * Natanz Uranium Enrichment Plant


 * Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant


 * Qom Uranium Enrichment Facility


 * Tehran Nuclear Research Center

Israeli officials hoped that hitting these four targets would cripple Iran's nuclear development capabilities for a number of years, but did not hope to destroy them completely. Fearing possible Iranian retaliation, civil defense drills were stepped up in Israel.

The attack
On February 4, 2010, seven Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jets took off from Palmachin Airbase.... to be continued