At 0330hrs, the call came through and all eighteen pilots and their weapons operators headed for their planes. The ground crews who had accompanied them from Israel in three C-130 Hercules aircraft now ensured all their gear was secured, their helmets and oxygen fully operational, and their secure comms were working.
The Russian-designed missile systems were state-of-the-art, almost impossible to evade once they locked on to their targets. It was no wonder that as the pilots closed their canopies, they received symbolic salutes and sorrowful smiles from their ground crews. This was the first time since the Yom Kippur War of 1973 that IAF crews would fly against extremely tough odds and opponents. Finally, with the massive engines spooling up, the pilots made one final systems check and began their taxi in line to the main runway.
In groups of three, with their engines roaring, the fighter aircraft thundered down the runway and hurled themselves into the sky.
At 0345hrs, Colonel Lieberman, call sign Khihl (blue) and Major Rogowski, call sign Hashmal (amber) crossed from the Azerbaijan base into Iranian airspace.
“Hashmal, we are radio silence here on in,” Lieberman instructed his second in command.
Lieberman and Rogowski, along with thirty-four other pilots and navigators, were hooked into the special communications network established by the AWAC C-130 flying over the Red Sea. They were able to monitor the actions and movements of the naval and ground forces in Iran. They would gauge their chances of mission success by the success or failure of the ground actions.
Colonel Lieberman’s two other wings tucked in behind his leading wing as did the two behind Major Rogowski. Each pilot belonged to the elite group of Israeli fighter pilots, who many in other air forces considered some of the finest in the world. The crews led by Lieberman and Rogowski were the best of the best; not one of them would shy away from their duty.
Colonel Lieberman was a veteran fighter pilot who had engaged in many missions during an illustrious career. He had led several raids on Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Syria. He thrived on the adrenaline rush of flying a supersonic fighter at Mach 2 speeds. The best part of the F-16I for Major Rogowski was the fact that it was the most superior fighter in the world, based on successful missions destroying both air and ground targets. The US manufacturers, Lockheed and General Dynamics, had developed and built a formidable aircraft; but once the IAF took delivery, they enhanced its weapons and electronics, making the F-16I one of the finest weapons in the Israeli arsenal. Pilots such as Colonel Lieberman and Major Rogowski were almost as one with their aircraft. They felt that they wore the aircraft and it responded to their slightest hint of a touch on the controls. Once the S-300 and S-400 batteries were neutralized, the Iranians would have no defences against the F-16I in the hands of these elite pilots.
CHAPTER 50
Heavy water plant, Arak, Iran, 0300 hrs
Two Sayeret teams consisting of fifty troopers were flown in by two CH-53 Yasur helicopters and landed two miles from the plant. Their incursion was undetected by Iranian radar and surveillance security systems, which had been either disabled or blinded by the IAF electronic jamming efforts.
The teams were led by a seasoned veteran of Sayeret, Captain Yohan Bar-Issan. Along with his team of 24 troopers, Captain Bar-Issan was to advance along the main road leading to the reactor plant. The other team, led by Lieutenant Yoni Berkovitz, manoeuvred around to the far side of the facility. Their targets were the industrial plant and plutonium storage.
Yohan and his team had accomplished about 75% of their journey when they observed a flurry of activity around the main gate. Since they had been on the road, there had been no traffic going in or out of the plant. Now, after leaving the road and taking cover in a low ditch, they saw several trucks and vehicles assembling just inside the main gate.
Yohan tasked one of his troopers, Ami Balevi, with getting closer to observe and reporting back what they were doing. After ten tense minutes, Balevi returned and informed his captain that the Iranians were loading the trucks with some type of material and preparing to drive off. He also noted a sense of panic and urgency around what was happening. Bar-Issan speculated that word had reached them somehow of suspected attacks; they were removing some critical components from the plant — probably plutonium for the other nuclear facilities.
The original mission plan had called for the commandos to basically barge straight in through the front door and destroy as much of the plant infrastructure as possible. Their HUMINT intelligence had given them enough data to know the plant was lightly guarded by a security force of sixty to eighty IRGC and some forty regular soldiers. The Sayeret commandos were also aware that the IRGC divided the watches into three, so at most there might be twenty to twenty-five guards on patrol. The rest would be sleeping or off duty. They knew that the soldiers were basically labour and not frontline troops.
Bar-Issan and Berkovitz’s commandos were all armed with suppressed IWI Tavor x95 Bullpup assault rifles and Glock 19 handguns. They also carried an assortment of sophisticated explosives, satchel charges, and a large stock of C4 as well as six Claymore mines. Two troopers on each team were equipped with light machine guns.
Bar-Issan deployed two troopers, Mordechai Levin and Motti Glasbon, who were armed with the machine guns, to the side of the road and set up two Claymore mines facing the direction the trucks would be coming from. Then, taking his remaining troop, Yohan moved on the main gate, surprisingly unchallenged. As they arrived, the convoy of five trucks left the reactor plant. Within minutes, the front two trucks set off the Claymores and the resulting explosions damaged them severely. As the soldiers dismounted, the two machine gunners opened fire, catching most of them before they could begin to react. There were only a handful of disoriented survivors.
Levi and Glasbon then retreated into the brush to provide overwatch for the others when they exited the plant.
Captain Bar-Issan and his men rushed the gate and headed directly for the main reactor and the heavy water facility. They met some sporadic resistance from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), but they were quickly subdued. Many of the awakened guards had rushed down the road to aid the survivors of the attacks on the trucks.
Once Bar-Issan and his troops gained access to the main component of the plant, they planted Semtex and C4 charges on the equipment consoles in the control room. As it was early morning, there was only a handful of technicians in the control centre, civilians that the Israelis quickly herded out of harm’s way, into an office area and into restraints.
When they reached the massive domed reactor and heavy water processing facility, they once again placed explosive charges in such a way that the components would be destroyed for the foreseeable future.
Yohan wanted to be in and out of the plant within a thirty-minute window. As they were setting the charges around the dome and its relevant infrastructure, they came under fire from some of the returning IRGC. The Guards had realized that the destruction of the trucks was part of a larger attack on the facility and hastened back to protect it. They were led by a seasoned IRGC commander, Major Ali Sul-Manihavi, who had seen action in Iraq fighting ISIS and also served with Hezbollah aiding the Syrian Assad forces. He had quickly ascertained what was happening as the control centre blew up and rushed thirty of his men toward the dome and the reactor.
Bar-Issan was able to move just in time as a hail of fully automatic fire pinned the Israelis down as they began their exfiltration. Two of his troops sustained non-life-threatening wounds. Trooper Nathan Assam was hit in the arm, and Trooper Hal Gutman received a flesh wound in his thigh. Both received preliminary field medical attention and could stay in the fight.
Retreating back inside the administrative centre of the reactor, Bar-Issan deployed two more Claymores in the walkway leading to the main entrance. He hoped to draw the rest of the IRGC toward his squad. After a quick consultation with his team, he scattered them inside the building and had them fire at random. His plan was to
give the IRGC the impression that he and his men had suffered severe losses, prompting them to rush the entrance.
“Leader Bar to troop, hold your fire until I give the order. We will let them think we are badly disorganized, with many dead and wounded. Let them come to us.”
Major Sul-Manihavi gathered his thirty men and had them prepare to rush the building. “These monkeys and pigs are almost out of the fight. On my command, rush the entrance hall in groups of five. You in the first five will move quickly on the steps to the doors.”
Pointing to another group, he continued, “You will then leapfrog the first five through the doors while they provide covering fire.”
Turning to the remaining nineteen men, he tasked them with covering the first two teams. “On my mark, fire at anything that moves,” Sul-Manihavi ordered.
“Three, two, one, go!”
Ten Iranians rushed up the path to the main entrance in two groups, and as they approached the final five yards, Bar-Issan triggered the first Claymore. All ten IRG soldiers were killed instantly. Sul-Manihavi was so enraged that he and his men had fallen for such a simple tactic that he didn’t consider that there would be another mine set up. Jumping to his feet, he urged his remaining men forward, but it was too late. He saw the other Claymore only milliseconds before it detonated, eviscerating him and two of his guardsmen.
Bar-Issan rounded up his men and ascertained that the two wounded troopers could still make it back out of the facility. They jogged back down the road toward the destroyed Iranian trucks and linked up with their comrades.
While Captain Bar-Issan was engaged at the reactor plant, Lt. Berkovitz led his team into the industrial plant. Once inside, they set charges and explosives on the strategic components of the plant: control rooms, the exhaust stacks and piping systems that delivered the heavy water, the isotope storage facilities, and the administrative offices. They were virtually unopposed as Ali Sul-Manihavi had not realized that both facilities were under simultaneous attack; he had concentrated his IRGC soldiers at the reactor plant.
It was only after one of his senior NCOs realized that there was an equally large force of attackers at the industrial plant that he quickly assembled a group of twenty fighters to repel the Israelis. Lt. Berkovitz had gamed this eventuality at Rosh Pina and was well prepared. The huge structures of the industrial plant provided secure cover for the Sayeret team. They took up concealed positions as the IRGC, led by Sergeant Mustafa Adminejad, rushed to defend the facility. The Israeli commandos picked his team off to the last man, but not before four Sayeret were wounded. Ami Shiller and Motti Vogel suffered serious wounds from small arms fire and exploding grenades; they had to be carried out, and two others received minor shrapnel wounds from grenades thrown by the Iranians.
Once their exfiltration was secured, the teams hustled back to their insertion point carrying the wounded men and sent a signal to the AWACS that they were heading for the pickup point.
Just as they left the road and began to cross the fields, the first of several heavy explosions went off, lighting up the sky all around the heavy water plant. They had no doubt they had been successful in destroying it beyond repair. And yet great care had been taken to avoid any damage to the reactor cores. The teams had strict orders not to release harmful radiation into the atmosphere. Their objective had been to take out only infrastructure and operations.
Within fifteen minutes of the teams’ exiting the plant, the CH-53s swooped in and they rapidly boarded the helicopters. During this time, the medics applied emergency aid to the two seriously wounded. They hooked them to plasma bottles and applied more tourniquets to the leg of Trooper Schiller. There was concern that he would lose the leg, which was essentially shredded just above the knee. Motti Vogel had been hit in his upper body and suffered two devastating wounds — one to his right shoulder and another to the side of his head. He was unconscious and losing a great amount of blood. The medics and doctor on board were doing their best to stabilize him. Once they could get him to Azerbaijan, he would be placed on a C-130 transport that had been converted to an airborne hospital and flown to Israel along with the other wounded from the various operations.
As they began the flight back to Azerbaijan, Captain Bar-Issan communicated to the AWAC that both teams had safely returned with six injuries that were being treated by the medics in-flight, informing the hospital plane that there were two serious casualties on the way.
Fifteen minutes into the flight, the copilot called Bar-Issan forward to the cockpit and handed him a headset. “Captain, this is Minister Melnik. I’ve been monitoring your activity and want to congratulate you on behalf of a grateful country. Our intelligence has confirmed that the Arak heavy water plant is totally out of commission for at least two to three years. Well done, a superb action. Time to bring your boys home.”
Yohan was surprised to be speaking directly to the Defense Minister. He handed the headset back to a grinning copilot, who had been listening to the conversation. “I guess you are very important, that you speak directly to Minister Melnik. Since you are such a big-time hot shot I wouldn’t be surprised if the prime minister will be inviting you to his house for tea!” teased the pilot.
Yohan gave him a digital salute with his middle finger, then went aft into the main cabin to join his men and deliver the minister’s congratulations. Communication between the pilots of the two Yasur helicopters confirmed that Lt. Berkovitz had received a similar call from the Defense Minister.
CHAPTER 51
Near Yongbyon Nuclear Site, North Korea, four days before the Iran attacks
As these scenarios in Iran were unfolding, the Mossad teams in North Korea were wreaking havoc on Kim Jong-un’s nuclear enterprise. Their targets were the research centre at Yeongjeo-ri, the Yongdeok-dong high-explosive site, and the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre, as well as at the Musudan-ri missile launch site on the East Coast.
The Mossad operators, led by a brilliant young Vietnamese Israeli commander, Tron Duc Phonam, and the South Korean Seal teams landed at three separate locations on the North Korean coast, then spread out across the northern districts of the country. At the Yongbyon Scientific Centre, approximately one hundred miles north of the capital, Pyongyang, Tron Duc’s agents had spent a week posing as visiting Chinese scientists. This deception had been planned and gamed by the Mossad for a number of years. The Israeli intelligence organization had been monitoring the activities of the Chinese and their involvement with the North Korean nuclear program. What they had learned was that the Chinese government was understandably concerned about the rise of an unstable nuclear nation on their border.
The Beijing government had determined to acquire as much knowledge as possible about the joint North Korean and Iranian program. Surprisingly, although outward diplomatic relations between the United States and China were cool and somewhat reserved due to the political posturing of both sides concerning Chinese activities in the South China Sea, there were good communications between some of the Chinese military and their counterparts in the Pentagon. The Chinese were equally concerned about the reckless and unpredictable North Korean government. As a result, they wanted to keep a watchful eye on Kim Jong-un and his bizarre, dangerous nuclear activities. Whenever they identified suspicious activities taking place in North Korea, especially with regard to their nuclear weapons program, the Chinese brass quietly shared the information — not necessarily all of it — with their contacts in the Pentagon. The Pentagon routinely shared intel with counterparts in Australia, Japan, the UK, Canada, and Israel.
Regardless of political posturing, the professional military on both sides of the Pacific were not anxious for Kim Jong-un and his murderous regime to have an arsenal of nuclear weapons. It was this rationale that caused the Chinese, acting as the only real friend and ally of North Korea, to send scientific teams to foster friendship and share knowledge. They capitalized on the fact that the North Koreans would never jeopardize their relations with Beijing by d
enying them access to the nuclear research and fabrication sites.
Beijing sent a delegation of five top nuclear missile engineers and scientists to North Korea to learn as much as they could about a planned test of a new intercontinental missile believed to have a range in excess of four thousand miles. There were also rumours that Kim was going to test a nuclear warhead on top of this missile.
When the group departed Beijing for Pyongyang, they were trailed by five Mossad Vietnamese Israelis. The NIS had been monitoring telecommunications between China and North Korea and alerted the Mossad that the Chinese delegation was soon departing to Pyongyang. The Mossad team, which had been in Beijing for several days as part of an agricultural team sharing the latest tech advances in rice cultivation with the Chinese agricultural ministry, travelled to Beijing Capital International Airport and followed the delegation to North Korea on a later flight. After the Chinese scientists landed at Pyongyang, they were greeted by officials from the army and the scientific community. The Mossad team arrived an hour later, posing as Chinese cleared through immigration and border security. They were warmly welcomed by their North Korean hosts, who believed they were junior members of the delegation.
The Mossad operators were taken to a reception and dinner at a luxurious hotel in the city of Pyongyang. The next morning, the Chinese group transferred to a convoy for the two-hour drive to Yongbyon. The convoy the Chinese were travelling in consisted of two Mercedes GL 350 diesel SUVs that the Chinese were riding in, and their escort of fourteen North Korean soldiers who were travelling in front and behind in two soft-sided, canvas-covered trucks. Each truck had a driver and officer up front and five soldiers in the back.
Six miles from the research facility, there was a stretch of highway where the mountainous terrain caused the road to twist and turn as it descended down to Yongbyon. Earlier that day, the Vietnamese Israelis had convinced their North Korean escorts that they needed to go on ahead of their bosses. The route had previously been scouted by the South Koreans and Tron Duc knew that at one point the vehicles would have to slow down to less than fifteen kilometres per hour. They had driven up earlier in the morning and, after overpowering their escorts, they hid one of their vehicles in a shallow ravine and waited in ambush for the convoy to arrive. Tron Duc positioned the other vehicle across the road to give the appearance of an accident or a blown tire.
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