Operation Rising Lion

Battle context

Operation Rising Lion was the opening action of the Twelve-Day War, launched on 13 June 2025, when the Israel Defense Forces and Mossad struck targets at more than a dozen locations across Iran simultaneously. The operation targeted key nuclear sites, military installations, and residential areas, and included targeted assassinations of military and civilian personnel, a number of whom were killed in their homes or during meetings. By striking nuclear and military infrastructure in a single coordinated wave, the operation sought to degrade Iranian strategic capabilities. Its immediate consequence was Iranian retaliation under Operation True Promise III, which directed ballistic missiles and drones at Israeli military, intelligence, and residential sites, escalating the conflict into a sustained exchange. Operation Rising Lion also drew in the United States, which launched Operation Midnight Hammer against Iranian nuclear facilities on 22 June, prompting Iran to strike American bases in Iraq and Qatar. The operation thus set the trajectory of the entire twelve-day conflict, triggering a multilateral escalation that extended well beyond the initial Israeli-Iranian bilateral confrontation. Israeli casualties across the war reached 3,238.