The Israeli strike on Iran on October 26, 2024 was the largest Israeli military operation since the Iran-Iraq War, involving over 100 fighter jets hitting 20 locations across Iran, Iraq, and Syria in a coordinated assault codenamed Operation Days of Repentance. Within days, leaked US intelligence documents exposed the full scale of pre-strike planning including satellite imagery, drone routes, and a bombshell acknowledgment of Israel’s nuclear weapons capability.
This article covers what happened, what was hit, which countries Israel flew over, how the US intelligence leak unfolded, and what it all means for the region now.
Background How the October 2024 Exchange Began
The direct military exchange between Israel and Iran didn’t come out of nowhere. It had been building through most of 2024.
April 2024 First Direct Strikes
In April 2024, Israel struck Iran for the first time ever in direct retaliation for Iran’s mass drone and missile barrage on Israeli territory. The April Israeli airstrikes hit Isfahan, targeting an air defense radar protecting the Natanz nuclear facility. The damage was limited, but the precedent was historic this was the first direct Israel-Iran military exchange after decades of proxy conflict.
October 1, 2024 Iran Strikes Back
Iran responded with a second, far heavier attack on October 1, 2024. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired 181 ballistic missiles at Israel, targeting Nevatim Airbase in the Negev, Tel Nof Airbase, and areas near Mossad headquarters. Twenty to thirty-two missiles hit Nevatim’s hangar and taxiway. The US immediately warned of “severe consequences.”
Israel’s Retaliation Operation Days of Repentance
Israel launched Operation Days of Repentance just before 2:00 AM on October 26, 2024. Over 100 Israeli Air Force jets took off from multiple Israeli airbases in three coordinated waves, joined by early-warning aircraft and aerial refueling planes. The operation was designed with military precision Israeli officials later described the months of preparation, with pilots training on exact mission models down to minute-by-minute execution details.
What Was Hit October 2024 Israeli Strikes on Iran
The October 2024 Israeli strikes on Iran covered a wider range of targets than Israel’s April operation.
Key Targets
Initial strikes hit power infrastructure in Tehran and Karaj at approximately 2:30 AM Iran time. A second wave expanded to military targets around 5:30 AM.
Confirmed targets included:
- Parchin military base — an active nuclear weapons research facility, which the US and Israel say was destroyed
- Hamadan Airbase — confirmed by the Israeli Defense Forces
- Tabriz — strikes near Tabriz Airport
- Isfahan Nuclear Technology/Research Center
- Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant — the underground facility previously considered protected by its depth
- Air defense batteries, UAV infrastructure, and missile production sites across Tehran, Ilam, Khuzestan, and Shiraz
The IDF stated that all of Iran’s long-range surface-to-air missile batteries and long-range detection radars were destroyed. Iran acknowledged the attacks while publicly calling the damage “limited.” The US said it was informed of the strikes in advance but had no direct involvement.
What Countries Did Israel Fly Over to Attack Iran?
What countries did Israel fly over to attack Iran became one of the most searched questions after the operation and the answer generated serious diplomatic fallout.
Iraq Unauthorized Airspace Crossing
Israel flew through Iraqi airspace without permission. Baghdad was furious. Iraq formally lodged a complaint with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and the UN Security Council, condemning what its government spokesman Bassim Alawadi called “the Zionist entity’s blatant violation of Iraq’s airspace and sovereignty.” Iraq suspended all flight operations until further notice following the strikes.
Syria
Israeli jets also transited through Syrian airspace, hitting military sites in central and southern Syria simultaneously. Syria’s air defense network had been heavily degraded by years of civil war and prior Israeli strikes, giving the Israeli Air Force relatively free passage.
The Primary Corridor
Defense analysts identified the Syria-Iraq route as Israel’s primary air corridor to Iran. Both countries present minimal integrated air defense threats at high altitude Syria’s defenses are broken, Iraq operates no credible intercept capability against fast-moving tactical aircraft. Israeli refueling aircraft had already been using southern Syrian airspace regularly before the October operation, suggesting the route was exercised long before the strike night.
Jordan’s airspace was considered a possible secondary corridor given the two countries’ normalized relations under the Abraham Accords framework, but no confirmed crossing of Jordanian airspace was reported for the October strikes specifically.
The US Military Leaks What Was Exposed
Less than a week after the October 26 strikes, a separate and deeply damaging US military leak emerged that shook Washington’s intelligence community.
CIA Analyst Asif Rahman
CIA analyst Asif Rahman leaked classified intelligence documents to the Telegram channel Middle East Spectator, which published them on October 18, 2024 before the Israeli strike actually occurred. The leaked materials originated from the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
The documents contained:
- Satellite imagery analysis of Israeli military activity
- Israeli Air Force exercise plans — including a second large-force employment exercise conducted October 15-16, 2024
- Drone strike routes
- Details on the relocation of advanced munitions to Israeli airbases
- Intelligence plane and fighter jet exercise data
Nuclear Acknowledgment
One document went further than any prior official US communication. It referenced Israel’s alleged possession of nuclear weapons a first official US acknowledgment of a capability that has been widely understood for decades but never formally confirmed by either Washington or Jerusalem. Both governments maintain deliberate ambiguity on this issue as policy.
Security officials confirmed the documents were authentic. The breach drew immediate condemnation from US officials as a “deeply concerning” national security risk, with parallels drawn to Jack Teixeira’s leaks during the Russia-Ukraine war. Israeli authorities privately acknowledged the leak but said nothing publicly.
US-Israel Relations and the Intelligence Question
The leaks exposed something important about US-Israel relations at the intelligence level: Washington had detailed, real-time satellite surveillance of Israeli military activity including exercises, munitions movements, and strike preparations at the same time Israel was a close ally conducting a joint strategic operation.
That dynamic became politically complicated quickly. Some US officials were uncomfortable with the idea that American intelligence infrastructure was being used to monitor an ally’s military preparation without that ally’s knowledge, while simultaneously being expected to support the operation.
Later intelligence leaks in February 2025 reported by The Wall Street Journal revealed that Israel was seeking indirect US support for a potential follow-up strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, including intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance support, and access to US aerial refueling tankers. The assessment noted that a sustained attack on Iran’s vast nuclear program would require American logistical backing that Israel alone could not fully provide.
The Iran Attacks on Israel The Full Picture
Understanding the Iran October attack on Israel matters for context.
Iran has now launched two direct ballistic missile attacks on Israeli territory April 2024 and October 2024. The April attack involved a mix of drones and missiles, most of which were intercepted. The October 1 attack used 181 ballistic missiles, causing limited but real damage: a hangar and taxiway at Nevatim Airbase, some civilian property damage near Tel Aviv, and injuries in Jordan from shrapnel.
Iran framed both attacks as responses to Israeli operations including the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024, the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon in September 2024, and the April 2024 Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed Iranian officers.
Regional and Global Impact
Energy Markets
Oil markets spiked during each round of strikes, reflecting how exposed global energy supply is to instability in the Persian Gulf corridor.
Iraq’s Position
Iraq’s formal UN complaint over Israeli airspace violations put Baghdad in a difficult position — officially condemning Israel while hosting both US forces and Iranian-aligned militias on its own territory.
US Intelligence Credibility
The CIA leak damaged US intelligence credibility in a specific way: it showed that Washington was conducting detailed satellite surveillance of Israeli military operations, and that this information could be extracted and weaponized. The Five Eyes alliance partners were briefed on the breach given their data’s inclusion in some of the leaked materials.
Conclusion
The Israeli strike on Iran in October 2024 established a new baseline for the conflict. Direct military exchange between the two countries is no longer hypothetical it has happened multiple times, with real targets hit and real damage confirmed on both sides.
The US intelligence leaks added another dimension: the gap between what Washington knows and what it officially acknowledges has narrowed dramatically, including on the nuclear question. How that affects future US-Israel coordination and whether Israel pursues follow-up strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites will be among the most consequential questions in Middle East security for the foreseeable future.
FAQs
What is Shin Bet vs Mossad?
Shin Bet (officially known as the Israel Security Agency or ISA) and Mossad are both Israeli intelligence organizations, but they have very different mandates and operational areas.Mossad is Israel’s foreign intelligence service, equivalent to the CIA or MI6. It operates internationally, conducting intelligence collection, covert operations, and counterterrorism outside Israel’s borders. Mossad is responsible for some of Israel’s most high-profile operations, including targeted assassinations of foreign adversaries and the dismantling of hostile networks abroad.
Both report to the Prime Minister’s office rather than to a unified intelligence ministry. In the context of the Iran conflict, Mossad handles foreign intelligence gathering on Iranian nuclear activity and military planning, while Shin Bet focuses on internal threats related to Iranian proxies operating inside Israel or the territories.
What is going on with Israel and the US right now?
As of mid-2026, the US-Israel relationship remains close but carries visible tensions beneath the surface. The Biden administration’s support during the October 2024 strikes informing Israel in advance but publicly denying involvement reflected the delicate balance Washington tries to maintain between backing Israel’s military operations and avoiding direct co-belligerence that could escalate the conflict.
Under the Trump administration from January 2025, the relationship has been more openly aligned. Trump expressed public support for Israel’s strike on Iran and signaled openness to providing intelligence and logistical support for potential follow-up operations against Iranian nuclear sites. However, leaked intelligence assessments have caused friction, particularly when they revealed that the US was conducting surveillance of Israeli military activity and that American intelligence was circulating within Israeli operational planning in ways that complicated the public denials both governments maintain for political reasons.
The ongoing question is whether the US will directly support or participate in any future Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program, which would represent a significant escalation beyond anything seen in 2024.
Is the US and Israel military going to merge?
No. The US and Israel maintain a close military and intelligence partnership, but they are entirely separate sovereign militaries with different chains of command, legal frameworks, and operational mandates.
What does exist is extensive cooperation: intelligence sharing, joint exercises, US security assistance funding (Israel receives approximately $3.8 billion annually in US military aid), co-development of weapons systems like the Iron Dome and Arrow missile defense platforms, and, as the 2024 leaks revealed, real-time satellite surveillance and operational intelligence exchange during active conflicts.Leaked February 2025 intelligence reports revealed Israel was seeking US logistical support refueling tankers, surveillance aircraft, and reconnaissance backing for potential future strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
