Bouncing Betty mines were a deadly, fearsome weapon. Once they were uncovered and identified, Moscver was wary of what other defences the Iranians had set to protect the bomb being developed at Natanz. He more than anyone on his team understood the enormity of their task. He did not underestimate the Iranians. The IRGC in particular had unlimited resources and were technologically advanced. He knew their attention to the security of Natanz would be first class and difficult to circumvent.
Zachary Nussfeld, whose grandfather fought the Nazis when he was in the Polish resistance, thought it somewhat ironic that the Iranians were employing the same nasty weapons as the Nazis. Both regimes had sworn policy statements to wipe the Jews off the earth.
After two hours of slow, stressful, and tedious crawling and excavating, the team reached the little escarpment where the breather was located. They had uncovered ten of the deadly mines, which had been set in concentric circles around the access to the breather. Once those were located and deactivated, they all relaxed slightly from the tension. Once Moscver and his six troopers arrived at the breather they had selected, they each began to implement the tasks that they had trained for with Dov’s supervision in Rosh Pinah. Three of the Sayeret commandos carried packs holding five gallons of liquid PLX (nitromethane) in thick plastic containers. Two others each carried another five-gallon container of EDA (ethylene diamine). Once they were close on top of the breather, Zachary Nussfeld carefully examined the entrance, searching for tripwires and booby traps. After a painstakingly slow examination revealed no wires or surprise packages, they removed the grates and camouflage for open access to the duct. They assumed that the Iranians believed the mines were enough to surprise and eliminate any intruder.
Moscver and another trooper, Amos Geitner, carefully removed the containers and slowly proceeded to mix the two liquids together. Separated, the liquids were pretty much nonvolatile, but when mixed together, they became extremely potent, with an explosive value one-and-a-half times that of an equivalent amount of TNT.
Once the two liquids were thoroughly mixed, a small amount of gel was added to provide a more viscous consistency to the mixture. The objective was for the team to pour the contents down the breather pipe so that it slowly slid down without alerting anyone below. They correctly had figured out the duct was exhausting and exchanging air via a large air circulation plant located somewhere below the duct.
The Israelis correctly assumed that the equipment would be in a machine room not closely monitored by any occupants, especially at night. The scientists back in Israel had calculated that the mixture would take about five minutes to slide down the ninety feet into the large underground cavern. Once inserted underground, the explosive mixture would have the effect of a half kiloton of TNT when detonated. The detonation of that much explosives in the enclosed subterranean chamber would be catastrophic to the structural integrity of the other underground chambers.
The armourers had designed a special spherical detonator housed in rubber to avoid making any noise when it landed in the machinery cavern. This was set to detonate a half hour after being inserted. If their calculations were correct, the force of the explosions would collapse a large portion of the underground structures, thus totally destroying the facility and its infrastructure.
As they were gently pouring the mixture down the duct, Lev Solomon whispered into their headsets that he saw a small jeep driving up the escarpment toward the breather duct.
“Overwatch to Leader, three tangos in a jeep coming your way. Clear to remove?”
“Leader to Overwatch, Affirmative,” replied Leo.
The suppressed M82 coughed four times in quick succession. The first .50 calibre round disabled the engine of the approaching jeep and, as the Iranian guards climbed out to examine their problem, Solomon neatly eliminated each one with a carefully aimed body-mass shot. The M82 .50 calibre rounds at a range of 500 yards totally destroyed the internal organs of the soldiers. In one case, the .50 calibre bullet cut the man in half; such was the destructive power of the shell. The speed and suddenness of the shooting had not allowed the Iranians to respond.
“Overwatch to Leader, threat removed. No communication after they dismounted from their vehicle.”
Moscver and his team quickly withdrew along the path they had cleared earlier and headed for the extraction location two kilometres northeast of the plant. The plan was for the team to make their way to the exfil point without discovery. Once there they would signal to the AWAC aircraft and the CH-53 Yasur 2025 which had carried them in from Azerbaijan. The helicopter’s range was limited to about 800 miles; however, the Yasur carried two external fuel tanks that extended its range to 1200 miles. The tanks were protected from damage from small arms fire thanks to a uniquely Israeli technical solution. During the Second World War, the Royal Air Force had developed a self-sealing technology for fuel tanks on their Spitfire and Hurricane fighters. An Israeli company had refined and modernized the technology and it was now utilized on many of their air assets.
This was an extremely risky play, because the external tanks added weight and reduced the aerodynamic efficiency, significantly slowing the airspeed down from 150 mph to 125 mph, but it was necessary for the helicopters to return to Azerbaijan without risk of fuel shortage in the event of any required evasive action. The round trip was just over 1,500 kilometres. Their biggest concern was the small IRG security patrols circling the area. Typically, such patrols would be armed with at least one RPG launcher and a truck-mounted .50 calibre machine gun. Similar equipment was used by ISIS fighters in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan, many times to great effect. Both weapons had the range and speed to take down a low-flying helicopter with deadly efficiency.
The helicopter would come in hot and the rear ramp would be lowering as it touched down. The team would race up the ramp and the Yasur would immediately go vertical, then race forward at high speed out of the area. Two IAF gunners would be manning chain Gatling guns on each side of the aircraft so that, if required, they could lay down withering fire on any enemy threats.
When the Sayeret team reached their extraction point, they soon heard the familiar whine of the CH-53 Yasur’s turbine engines. Since they had not called off the mission, the AWAC crew following their progress via radio signals dispatched the Yasur to coincide with their arrival at the extraction location. After dropping the team off to begin their mission on Natanz, the helicopter flew to a deserted area about forty kilometres from the insertion point. There it waited until notified that the team was conducting an exfil. It immediately took off and raced for the exfil location.
Shortly after leaving the area, the crew and Sayeret team witnessed a massive explosion that rocked the Sikorsky CH-53 Yasur even though it was some two kilometres from the plant. It was obvious that the Israeli deep penetration team had achieved their objective.
Before the explosion, unbeknownst to the Israelis, their carefully planned mission was almost foiled. A maintenance worker had entered the machinery room where the detonator and explosives had been inserted. Fortunately, he missed seeing the detonator, but had observed the liquid explosives. Believing something was amiss, he ran out of the room in search of his supervisor. When he reached the maintenance office, the supervisor was in a discussion with the head of security for the facility, Rez Pahlev. Once they heard the concerns of the anxious worker, they instinctively realized a disaster was about to occur.
Pahlev ran from the office to call his team on a walkie-talkie and urge them to get to the machinery room as fast as possible. He then activated an alarm to alert the inhabitants of the facility that they were about to be attacked. Most of the civilian employees and scientists were frozen in shock.
One of the scientists responsible for the centrifuge facility was a huge Russian — Gregor Tartarov. Tartarov urged all his teams to make for the elevators and escape to the surface. Within a half-minute of the alarm sounding, there was total pandemonium. Men and women rushed in panic mode for the elevators
. Tartarov was bullying his way to the elevator complex, shouting at people to get out of his way. Just as he and several other Russians and North Korean workers made it into an elevator, the undiscovered detonator triggered a massive explosion. Concussion waves reverberated throughout the underground complex, destroying people, machinery, and infrastructure. Then a massive fireball raced through the halls, incinerating everything in its path. Close to five hundred workers had been below ground at Natanz. There were no survivors.
Moscver high-fived Alon Nuss and Geitner, exclaiming, “Scratch one nuclear plant.”
As they continued on to the air base in Azerbaijan, they received news via the AWAC that the other teams had achieved similar success at Fordow and Arak.
CHAPTER 47
By 0800 hours, the C-130 carrying Dov and the clerics had departed Vasidieh and was landing in Rosh Pinah. At this time, there was still no noise coming from Iran about the abductions. There had been early news reports of a massive explosion at Natanz, but no details were being provided.
During the flight, the Ayatollah Khamenei sat in restraints, glaring at his Israeli captors. Dov engaged him in Farsi, “Khameini, we Jews aren’t going anywhere. We aren’t going to let anyone wipe us out. You’ll will be treated with the humanity and respect we show to our prisoners. But you’re no longer in control of Iran.”
Khamenei sat there in shock. How dare this son of Little Satan address me this way. I am the Supreme Leader!
Finally, he responded by spitting at Dov. He missed. Dov, as much as he wanted to slap the Ayatollah, controlled his emotions and just smiled at him.
“If that is all you have, Ali my friend, then it is a great day for Persia. Your people are probably celebrating already.”
“The invincible IRGC will follow you to the ends of the earth and we will have a special crane chosen for you. How dare you insult the glorious revolutionary regime of Iran,” snarled the humiliated Ayatollah.
Dov offered a riposte, “Once we land, you will be transported to an Israeli detention jail reserved just for terrorists. There you will be interrogated and then charged with encouraging and funding worldwide terrorism, crimes against Israel and Israelis, and human rights violations. You will also be charged for participating in the Syrian genocide and then transported to the International Court at The Hague, where you will stand trial and inevitably be sentenced.”
Several of the other leadership became restive and concerned when suddenly they saw their leader as a frightened old man.
One mullah, Nasir Adriahi, voiced his thoughts aloud. “I have always feared this day. We never listened to the young people. We believed we could prosecute them and then the internet gave them access to the world. We tried to inoculate them against corrupt Western life. I always believed we would lose the battle for their minds. They abandoned us in 2009 after the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan in the streets during the Green protests.”
Another mullah, Nasir Adjiminedad, chastised Adriahi. “Silence!! You dare to speak with this despicable infidel scum? Our Islamic Revolution is leading the worshippers of Allah to glorious victory. Our Islamic Guards will destroy the crusaders. We will follow them to their homeland and destroy them there! Our valiant Suleiman has his Hezbollah in place. The wrath of Allah, blessed be he, will destroy the sons of the two Satans.”
One of Deborah Grunwalder’s female Sayeret commandos slapped him hard across the face. The very idea that he had been struck by a women, an Israeli at that, so shocked him and the others that there was total silence from the prisoners. None of them could believe the predicament they were in.
Further back in the fuselage sat President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif. Both had been considered in the West and the liberal media as moderates, men of stature within Iran who could be reasonable. Nothing was further from the truth. Rouhani was as deceitful and corrupt as the other leaders and Zarif was a duplicitous double-talker with a serpent’s tongue. Rouhani was in great distress on two counts. First, his boss, the Ayatollah Khamenei was already blaming him for this calamity. It was both Rouhani’s and Zarif’s initiative that had led to the so-called Nuclear Agreement, an agreement Khamenei had totally opposed. He had been supported in his opposition by General Soleimani, the leadership of the Republican Guards, and the Quds Force. Secondly, Rouhani instinctively knew that the thin veneer of likeability he had earned in the West was about to be stripped away once he stood trial and the world found out about his fiendish hatred for Israel and the United States.
Dov looked at them with total disdain and ceased any more discussion. Under their rule, Iran engaged in hanging gays and dissenters, jailing journalists and opposition speakers, all in the name of protecting the Revolution.
He turned, speaking in Hebrew to Captain Deborah Grunwalder, the leader of the female commando team on his mission. “Look at these sorry sacks of shit now. Already plotting how they can throw each other to the wolves. If we didn’t have orders to treat them like delicate china, I would pitch them out for the sharks in the Red Sea. Once we get them on the stand in the tribunals, watch how they will abandon each other to save their own sorry skins. These sons of bitches never ever had any intention of abiding by the so-called agreement.”
Deborah placed her hand on Dov’s arm and said softly, “Our personal feelings are not equal to the relief in the world capitals once these monsters are brought to justice. Dov, think about it, we are part of history. We are cleansing the Stygian stable of terrorists. Is there any word on Ari’s mission?”
Dov smiled and relayed the news he had heard over the secure comms in the cockpit.
CHAPTER 48
Tehran
The Tehran teams led by Ari and Sarah Holzinger had assaulted the headquarters of the IRGC and the Quds Force. Just as they had planned and trained for it to unfold, they had destroyed Iranian communication capabilities. As the ground attacks were in full swing, the fighter jets that had appeared to be targeting Natanz changed course and flew in low over Tehran, bombing the other IRGC facilities, several of which ringed the city.
The eighteen enhanced two-seater F-16I fighter-bombers had probably the riskiest mission of all. They flew into Iran from Azerbaijan. The air group leader was Colonel (Alam) Uri Lieberman and his second in command was Major (Rasan) Jonatan Rogowski. Seated behind Col. Lieberman was his weapons operator, Captain Leon Megerov, and behind Major Rogowski, Lieutenant Ben Mischoff. Ostensibly they would be seen by the Iranian defense forces as targeting the Natanz or other nuclear facilities. Once Ari and Dov were able to knock out the communications, Lieberman and eight pilots would change course and head for Tehran while the remaining nine commanded by Major Rogowski would target the Iranian air bases at Bushehr, Hamadan, Tabriz, and Maherberad and destroy the Iranian air assets on the ground.
Colonel Lieberman knew his team’s survival depended on their ability to fly below the Iranian radar through the mountainous border undetected, and also it was critical that their fellow combatants in Bandas Abbas and Tehran were able to completely destroy all Iranian military communications. This would allow Lieberman to enter Iranian airspace around Tehran and destroy the IRGC facilities without being targeted by the Russian-supplied S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air missiles, the greatest threat to the Israeli aircraft. All eighteen air crews knew there was a fifty-fifty chance that they would be blasted out of the sky by deadly accurate missiles.
The prime targets in Tehran were the headquarters of the IRGC and the Basij militia. Devoid of communications and leadership, militia forces would be neutralized and no longer a threat to the regime’s opposition groups. With the IRGC unable to communicate and still in shock, the combat nerve centres of Iran would be shut down and inoperable.
The hope was that the Iranian military and security surrounding the nuclear plants would see these assaults on their leadership as the main event. In fact, they provided a diversion to allow the seven Sayeret Deep Penetration Teams time to carry out their missions unimpeded.
T
he other six teams had similar targets at the other nuclear plants. The strict rules of engagement given to the IDF Command and Macha by the prime minister were for there to be few or no civilian casualties.
CHAPTER 49
Azerbaijan Air Base
The eighteen F-16I fighter planes had arrived in Azerbaijan and were now fully fuelled and armed, with each plane carrying different weaponry. One was armed with air-to-surface missiles and five thousand rounds of .50 calibre bullets for the Gatling machine guns. Another had four wing-mounted 500-pound laser-guided bombs and one thousand rounds of 100 mm cannon shells for the two nose-mounted cannons. The third was loaded with four air to ground missiles and four thousand rounds of 100 mm cannon shells for the nose guns.
The crews were on standby, awaiting the “Zanek! Zanek!” (scramble scramble) call from headquarters in Israel. Even though all crew members were seasoned pilots and experienced operators, their tension in the ready room was palpable. More than any fear, there was the nerve-wracking and seemingly infinite waiting for the “go” signal.
Some were quietly discussing key points of their flights into Iran among themselves. They were reviewing all the critical data on speed and altitude, possible points where they could be threatened by anti-aircraft missiles, and of course, their designated targets. Others were resting on the floor or on one of several couches around the room. Some stepped out onto the hardstand to conduct checks of their aircraft with the ground crews even though they had already checked at least twice in the past three hours.
The End of Terror Page 15
