Like so many others, I spent last night glued to the news — here at PJ Media and on X — marveling at the breadth, depth, and mind-blowing precision of Israel's initial strike on Iran. No surprise here: Mossad and Israeli special forces were the real stars of the show.

According to an Israeli official today, Israel built a drone base deep inside Iran as part of their preparations — and then unleashed them to deadly effect.

This is where I remind you that it's only in the last two years or so that the deadly efficacy of drone warfare was proven beyond a doubt. In that short time, the IDF not only embraced it, but smuggled a drone base into Iran — a tightly controlled dictatorship and presumably on high alert — then, on cue, launched those drones to destroy ballistic missile launchers before they could be used against Israel.

Here's video of one drone strike:

There must have been soldiers on the ground to set everything up and launch the strike. Prayers, please, that they are or soon will be safely evacuated home. 

Israeli intelligence was so effective — and apparently the Trump administration played along to avoid alerting Iran's leadership — that Israel killed nearly a dozen high-level military commanders.

The Revolutionary Guard didn't fare so well, either:

Nice shooting, boys.

I wondered last night why Israel apparently left Iran's political leadership untouched; they'll be harder to find now.

Yes, my conspiracy-minded side spent a moment or two wondering how much of this might be misdirection — there were no special forces or secret drone base built right under the Mullah's noses.

But on lightning-quick reflection, the results speak for themselves. 

I might have told this story before but it's short and cute, so I'll tell it again.

During the Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein was launching SCUD missiles at Israel in a desperate bid to break the Coalition against him, then-Ambassador Bibi Netanyahu appeared on CNN's Crossfire to discuss the situation. 

One of the hosts (I can't remember which one and I've never been able to dig up a transcript) asked Netanyahu if the U.S. was supplying Israel with any intel to help them cope with the missile attacks.

His reply was perfectly deadpan: "Israeli intelligence is not so bad, you know."

You see, the thing about Israeli intelligence is that it's either the best or there is no Israel.

Last night showed, once again, that Israeli intelligence is the best.

AG Hamilton called it "a new Middle East" we woke up to this morning:

Tehran’s terror proxies are decimated. Lebanon now has the ability to order Hezbollah to stand down. Hamas is incapable of doing anything. Syria has no interest in defending the regime in Tehran. Jordan’s Air Force is helping take down Iranian drones. Saudis are letting Israel use their air space. Much of the senior military leadership of the terror regime is gone overnight. Their military capability has been severely degraded overnight. Several nuclear sites have been hit. Others will be targeted in coming days.

Keep in mind that much of the criticism you'll read of Israel in the coming days — particularly from the Arab world — is purely performative. They were sipping champagne last night in Riyadh, you can be sure.

If Tehran's viper's nest of a regime falls, so much the better.

So yes, oops… Mossad did it again — and maybe reshaped the Middle East in the process.

But also please remember that in war, the other side gets to shoot back. What form that might take, we don't yet know — but my PJ Media colleague Richard Fernandez has a thought for you:

This ain't over yet.

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