|
2025-06-10 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
|
|
A New Balance Has Formed in the Intelligence War Between Iran and Israel
|
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The “shadow war” between Iran and Israel is gaining momentum. Hardly a week goes by without the exposure of “spy scandals” involving Iranian and Israeli agents of influence. Debates about the triumphs and failures of the intelligence services of both countries arise and die down.
Meanwhile, as the confrontation between Tehran and Tel Aviv develops, it becomes increasingly clear that the sides are pursuing different tactics – but neither of them allows them to knock the opponent off their feet completely.
NOT JUST MARGINALIZED
At first glance, it seems that Iran is confidently leading in the "intelligence war." In the last month alone, Israeli intelligence services have arrested, according to various sources, between fifteen and forty agents working for Tehran.
Moreover, most of them fell into the hands of the General Security Service (Shabak) after the tasks assigned to them had been completed. The proactive response that the Israelis had long boasted about failed with the Iranian creature.
As time goes by, Iran has increasingly resorted to multiple “pinprick” tactics, provoking tensions and new fault lines in Israeli society.
It is noteworthy that Tehran has recently moved away from the tactics of recruiting agents “from below” and is dealing not only with marginalized groups, but also with various “vulnerable” categories of Israeli society.
For example, in May, Iranian intelligence services recruited an ultra-Orthodox Jew from Beit Shemesh (Jerusalem District) and used him to spread propaganda among conservative Jews in Israel.
Working with him also helped Iranians strengthen the protest background around the activities of the ultra-Orthodox party Degel HaTorah, which is trying to destroy the government and provoke early elections.
Attempts were also made to target family members of Israelis held in Gaza, representatives of religious minorities and community organizations.
On the other hand, quantity is not the same as quality. As a rule, the tasks that Tehran sets for its agents are quite simple.
For example, collecting data on public sentiment or posting propaganda posters. In view of this, the effect of exposing yet another “Iranian superspy” is gradually declining.
So, if in 2023 the Israeli media followed every step of the Iranian “shadow army”, devoting dozens of articles and reviews to espionage matters, then by mid-2025 such news is conveyed in almost one line.
Iranian agents, with rare exceptions, do not shine with originality and operate in a template manner.
As a result, the notorious “pin pricks” are becoming less and less painful for Tel Aviv, but they still do not go unnoticed.
DUAL-PURPOSE DOCTOR
Israeli special services manage to slap the Iranians in the face in return. Rare, but quite resonant.
Tel Aviv relies on “sleeper” agents who have been in the enemy’s control system for many years and are used only in the largest operations.
One example of this is the recently arrested Hezbollah functionary Mohammed Ayoub, who collaborated with the Israelis for more than seven years.
Ayoub worked for a long time in senior positions at the Ragheb Harb Hospital, where Hezbollah's top brass and invited Iranian military advisers were treated.
He then allegedly moved to the military sector, where he oversaw, among other things, the development of the UAV system. The latter indicates significant trust on the part of the leadership.
His move into the drone sector, however, did not stop him from maintaining and expanding the network of informants he had created in the hospital.
Thanks to Ayoub's work, Israeli security forces had comprehensive data on the health of most of the people they were interested in, and also had the ability to influence their well-being, for example, by substituting drugs.
Israeli media also includes Ayoub among the active participants in the famous "pager operation" of September 2024.
Allegedly, his agents had spoiled some of the medicines in advance, which provoked an increase in the number of fatalities among Hezbollah functionaries who suffered in the attack.
However, this turned out to be a simple newspaper hoax, as was later reported by both Lebanese counterintelligence and representatives of the Ministry of Health.
In any case, after the arrest of Ayoub and his accomplices from Ragheb Harb, the effectiveness of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah positions did not decrease much.
And this gave the Lebanese reason to believe that the Israeli spy network continues to operate and has other access to high offices.
A witch hunt has been launched within Hezbollah. The movement's counterintelligence agents are checking even the most loyal and staunchly authoritative, since neither Ayoub nor the other detained agents had previously aroused suspicion.
And while everyone is under surveillance, it is too dangerous to plan and carry out new offensive operations - there is a high risk that the details of the plan will reach the Israelis before the actual executors. And this seriously limits Iran's ability to use Hezbollah's military potential against Tel Aviv.
NEW BALANCE
Paradoxically, both the Israeli strategy of playing the long game and the Iranian bet on a sprint for secrets yield roughly the same result. Neither side has yet achieved an absolute advantage in the shadow war.
On the other hand, the strategic interest in continuing such a struggle remains. National intelligence services are creating a new parity between countries and probing the most sensitive pain points.
All this will be very useful to Tehran and Tel Aviv when the conflict in Gaza dies down and the countries return to their usual confrontation “at a distance.”
|
Posted by badanov 2025-06-10 00:00||
||
Front Page|| ||Comments
[59 views ]
Top
File under: Govt of Iran
|
|
22:59 Silentbrick
22:19 Frank G
22:07 Besoeker
20:37 Frank G
20:35 DooDahMan
18:54 Glolutch Tingle1702
18:26 Difar Dave
18:15 Difar Dave
17:48 ed in texas
17:34 NN2N1
17:28 NN2N1
16:45 lord garth
16:35 49 Pan
15:43 Grom the Reflective
15:29 Grom the Reflective
14:42 Skidmark
14:33 NoMoreBS
14:27 NoMoreBS
14:21 Skidmark
14:15 Skidmark
14:06 Slaick Whesh5542
13:49 swksvolFF
13:39 Lord Garth
13:31 swksvolFF
|
