Tel Aviv: Israel’s intelligence services launched a deadly and highly-coordinated mission known as ‘Operation Narnia’, killing 10 top Iranian nuclear scientists as part of its broader military offensive ‘Operation Rising Lion’, according to reports from Israeli media.

The scientists were reportedly assassinated in their homes during the night, a tactic shift from earlier strikes that targeted individuals on their commute. Israeli officials claim the strategy was to ensure simultaneous hits to prevent any of the targets from being warned.

Channel 9 and Channel 12 reports confirm the use of a “special weapon”, the specifics of which have been barred from publication, adding to the mystery surrounding the operation.

Those killed were said to be among the most elite minds in Iran’s nuclear programme, many of them direct students or successors of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the architect of the now-defunct Project Amad, Iran’s alleged nuclear bomb effort in the early 2000s. Fakhrizadeh himself was killed in 2020, reportedly by a robotic sniper also linked to Israel.

The names of the deceased include experts in nuclear engineering, reactor physics, chemical and materials sciences. Notable among them are Fereydoun Abbasi, Mohammad Mahdi Tehranchi, and Akbar Matlali Zadeh.

Israeli intelligence had allegedly compiled a hit list of high-priority Iranian scientists as early as November last year. The targets were categorised based on their importance to Iran’s military nuclear capabilities and the difficulty in replacing them.

This unprecedented wave of assassinations represents a significant blow to Iran’s nuclear development apparatus and is likely to escalate already fragile relations in the Middle East.

Iranian authorities have not officially confirmed the deaths or responded to the claims. Meanwhile, analysts suggest that the use of secrecy and precision in ‘Operation Narnia’ echoes Mossad’s long-standing doctrine of pre-emptive elimination of threats deemed existential to Israel.