Israel’s plan to launch air attack on Iran leaked

Documents show that Israel is preparing munitions and drone activity for an attack after Iran launched its own offensive this month

The US has launched an investigation into the leaking of two alleged intelligence documents that detailed Israel’s preparation for a potential strike on Iran in the coming days.
The documents, seen by The Telegraph, include interpretations of satellite imagery that appear to have been prepared recently by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and analyse information gathered by US spy satellites and the National Security Agency.
They were marked “top secret”, dated Oct 15 and 16 and were circulated on Friday night on the Telegram messaging app.
One document says Israel continues to prepare munitions and covert drone activity, while the other outlines Israeli Air Force exercises involving ballistic and air-to-surface missiles.
Both say the activities were believed to be in preparation for a strike on Iran. 
“We cannot definitively predict the scale and scope of a strike on Iran and such a strike can occur with no further GEOINT warning,” one document cautions.
GEOINT is a military acronym for geospatial intelligence, which mostly relies on satellite images but can also include signal intercepts.
The document adds: “We have not observed indications that Israel intends to use a nuclear weapon,” saying a recent dispersal of Israel’s Jericho II medium-range ballistic missiles, which are believed to have been built as nuclear delivery systems, was probably defensive.
The United States does not publicly acknowledge the existence of Israel’s nuclear arsenal, which Israel itself has never admitted to.
The second document described two large Israeli air force exercises including refuelling aircraft and an early warning aircraft.
The Telegram channel accused at first of leaking the documents said the documents initially appeared in a separate private group with 7,000 members.
“We also reiterate that we have no connection to the original source, which we assume to be a whistleblower within the US Department of Defence,” the statement said. In a separate statement, the Telegram group said an acquaintance had received the documents through an anonymous source.
The group claims to be run by independent journalists and that it is not “Iran-affiliated”, but it refers to the Israeli government as the “Zionist regime” and uses Tehran time as a baseline.
The New York Times reported that the documents have been discussed by largely pro-Iran accounts on Telegram since Friday.
The documents do not appear to be a comprehensive assessment of Israeli intentions but an assessment of developments by the US on the dates given.
An Israeli reprisal against Iran has been expected since Iran launched its own retaliatory assault on Oct 1, launching 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli targets in at least two waves.
The Iranian attack was a response to the killings of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
US officials acknowledged the documents are authentic to The New York Times.
The government is said to be investigating who had access to the alleged classified documents.
“The leak is very concerning. There’s some serious allegations being made there, an investigation underway, and I’ll get a briefing on that in a couple of hours,” Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, told CNN’s “State of the Union. “We’re following it closely.”
Two years ago, a large leak of classified material appeared on Discord including details of Ukraine’s order of battle. It was one of the biggest leaks of government secrets in US history.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden said during a visit to Germany that he has a good understanding of how and when Israel plans to respond to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack.
US officials told CNN that the leak is “deeply concerning”, while privately acknowledging they are authentic to The New York Times.
The US is said to be investigating who had access to the alleged classified documents.
Two years ago, a large leak of classified material appeared on Discord and was made public last year. It was one of the biggest leaks of government secrets in US history.
On Friday, Joe Biden, the US president, said during a visit to Germany that he has a good understanding of how and when Israel plans to respond to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack.
The remarks were the first time the US has indicated that an understanding has been reached with Israel on the nature of the retaliation. Mr Biden has previously said he opposed Israel targeting Iranian nuclear or oil sites.
The IDF said on Sunday night that it intended to strike financial institutions linked to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.