From exploding Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies to a cyber attack on an Iranian nuclear facility, Israel is suspected of carrying out a number of secretive operations over the years.
Israel rarely takes responsibility for such attacks – its military declined to comment on the device blasts in Lebanon – but a long pattern of sophisticated incidents has nonetheless unfolded.
As the fallout from this week’s attacks continues to reverberate around the Middle East, Sky News looks at some of the other notable operations over the last six decades where Israeli involvement has been confirmed or suspected.
In April 2021, Iran blamed Israel for what it said was an attack on one of its underground nuclear facilities.
Israel did not claim responsibility for it, but the country’s media widely reported that the country had orchestrated a devastating cyber attack that caused a blackout at Natanz and damaged its centrifuges (used for separating uranium isotopes).
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A former Iranian official at the time said the assault set off a fire while a spokesman mentioned a “possible minor explosion”.
Image: The Natanz nuclear facility in 2021. Pic: AP
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was travelling in a bulletproof vehicle alongside three security personnel vehicles when he heard what sounded like bullets hitting his car.
After he reportedly left the vehicle, a Nissan fitted with a remote-controlled machine gun then opened fire, killing him.
Image: The scene of the attack on Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020. Pic: IRIB/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
2010: Stuxnet
A powerful computer worm widely thought to have been designed by US and Israeli intelligence, Stuxnet is believed to have disabled a key part of the Iranian nuclear programme.
Discovered in 2010, Stuxnet was designed to destroy the centrifuges Iran used to enrich uranium as part of its weapons programme.
It is reported the worm was delivered to the Natanz facility on a thumb drive by an Iranian double agent working for Israel.
2010: Killing of Mahmoud al Mabhouh
Mahmoud al Mabhouh, a top Hamas operative, was killed in a Dubai hotel room in an operation attributed to the Mossad spy agency but never acknowledged by Israel.
Many of the 26 supposed assassins were caught on camera disguised as tourists.
Image: Mahmoud al Mabhouh. Pic: News Pictures/Mcp/Shutterstock
A Fatah activist from the Kalandia refugee camp outside Ramallah was killed when a booby-trapped mobile phone exploded next to his head.
1997: Attempted assassination of Hamas leader
Mossad agents tried to kill the then head of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, in Amman, Jordan.
Two agents entered Jordan using fake Canadian passports and poisoned Mashaal by placing a device near his ear.
Image: Khaled Meshaal. Pic: AP
They were captured shortly afterwards and Jordan’s king threatened to void a still-fresh peace accord if Mashaal died. Israel ultimately dispatched an antidote, and the Israeli agents were returned home.
1996: Yahya Ayyash
Yahya Ayyash, nicknamed the “engineer” for his mastery in building bombs for Hamas, was killed by answering a rigged phone in Gaza.
His assassination triggered a series of deadly bus bombings in Israel.
Image: The coffin of Yahya Ayyash was carried into a mosque for funeral services in 1996. Pic: Reuters
1972: Bassam Abu Sharif
He was injured in Beirut when he opened a package containing a book implanted with a bomb which exploded.
He was the spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Image: Bassam Abu Sharif. Pic: Reuters
He survived but lost several fingers, was left deaf in one ear and blind in one eye.
1972: Mahmoud Hamshari
A representative from the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) was killed in Paris in 1972 when a bomb was planted under a telephone and remotely detonated.
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Yemen’s Houthi rebel group has said 15 people have been injured in “US-British” airstrikes in and around the capital Sanaa.
Most of those hurt were from the Shuub district, near the centre of the city, a statement from the health ministry said.
Another person was injured on the main airport road, the statement added.
It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” following a missile attack by the group on Israel’s main international airport on Sunday morning.
It remains unclear whether the UK took part in the latest strikes and any role it may have played.
On 29 April, UK forces, the British government said, took part in a joint strike on “a Houthi military target in Yemen”.
“Careful intelligence analysis identified a cluster of buildings, used by the Houthis to manufacture drones of the type used to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, located some fifteen miles south of Sanaa,” the British Ministry of Defence said in a previous statement.
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On Sunday, the militant group fired a missile at the Ben Gurion Airport, sparking panic among passengers in the terminal building.
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly caused flights to be halted.
Four people were said to be injured, according to the country’s paramedic service.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Image: Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
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Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.
So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.
This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.
But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.
That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.
Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.
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“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.
It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.
“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.
“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”
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Anti-government campaign spreads
Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.
More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.
Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.
He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.
Image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the authors of the original letter as ‘bad apples’. Pic: AP
He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.
A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.
Threat of dismissal
The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.
We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.
“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.
The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.
It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.
The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.
More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.