Before Israel launched an unprecedented wave of strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities and top military leaders this week, its spies were already on the ground in enemy territory.

Israeli intelligence agency Mossad had smuggled weapons into Iran ahead of the strikes, according to Israeli security officials, and would use the weapons to target Iran’s defense from within.

The officials said Israel established a base for launching explosive drones inside Iran, and the drones were later used to target missile launchers near Tehran. Precision weapons were also smuggled in and used to target surface-to-air missile systems, clearing the way for Israel’s Air Force to carry out more than 100 strikes with upward of 200 aircraft in the early hours of Friday local time.

The plan to disable Iranian defenses seems to have been effective; Israel said all of its aircraft returned safely from the first waves of strikes, appearing to show Israeli air superiority over parts of a country hundreds of miles away.

Intelligence gathered by the Mossad in Iran also gave Israel’s air force the ability to target senior Iranian commanders and scientists.

In an incredibly rare move, the Mossad released video from some of its operations, showing drones attacking what appear to be unsuspecting missile launchers.

It is the latest operation to show how deeply Israel’s intelligence services, including the Mossad, have penetrated some of Iran’s most closely guarded secrets. The operations have made the Mossad appear a nearly unstoppable force in Iran, capable of hitting at some of its highest-ranking officials and most sensitive sites.

“Mossad has treated Iran like its playground for years now,” said Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and curator of the Iranist newsletter.

“From assassinating top nuclear scientists to sabotaging Iranian nuclear facilities, Israel has proved time and time again that it has always had the upper hand in this shadow war that has now been playing out in the open since the first tit-for-tat strikes in April 2024.”

An Israeli security source said the latest operation required commando forces operating deep within Tehran and across the country while avoiding detection from Iran’s security and intelligence agencies. The source said Mossad teams targeted air defense missiles, ballistic missiles, and missile launchers as the attack from the Israeli Air Force began.

A second Israeli security source said the Mossad operations were years in the making, involving both intelligence-gathering efforts and the deployment of Mossad commandos deep behind enemy lines.

Some of the Mossad commando forces operated in the Iranian capital itself, according to the security source.

In addition to the drone base established by the Mossad long before Wednesday’s attack, Mossad commandos deployed “precision-guided weapons systems” near Iranian missile air defense systems, which were activated at the same time as the Israeli air force began striking its targets. A second operation deployed sophisticated vehicle-mounted weaponry to target other Iranian defense systems.

The Mossad operation also involved assassinations of top Iranian officials.

Israel has shown – flaunted even – the Mossad’s ability to operate with near impunity in Iran in the past.

Starting in the early-2010s, Iran accused Israel of carrying out a campaign of assassinations against the country’s nuclear scientists. Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon tacitly acknowledged the targeted killings when he said in 2015 that Israel cannot be held responsible “for the life expectancy of Iran’s nuclear scientists.”

From 2007 to 2012 Israel allegedly carried out five covert assassinations, nearly all in Tehran, through remote-controlled bombings, or remote-controlled machine guns. Only one of Iran’s key nuclear scientists survived the assassination attempt, Fereydoon Abbasi.

Just last month, Abbasi told Iranian state media that any attack on production sites would have little impact on the timeline of developing a bomb, saying, “our capabilities are spread all over the country. If they target production sites, it will be inconsequential to our timetable, because our nuclear materials are not stored above ground for them to hit.”

Abbasi was one of the scientists killed in Israel’s early morning attack in Tehran.

The Mossad’s actions soon became much more public.

In early-2018, Israel stole Iran’s nuclear archive from Tehran, displaying the intelligence coup in a live broadcast from Jerusalem. Speaking in English, Netanyahu showed off the archive, including what he said were copies of 55,000 pages of Iranian nuclear information and a display of discs he said were 55,000 files.

Iran tried to dismiss Netanyahu’s comments as “childish” and “laughable,” but the plundering of the archive showed the confidence Israel had in the Mossad’s ability to function in Tehran. The operation, which would have required extensive planning and an intimate knowledge of the archive’s location and security, pushed the first Trump administration to withdraw from the original nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Israel wasn’t done yet.

In November 2020, Israel assassinated Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran’s chief nuclear scientist, while he was in a bulletproof car traveling with his wife. Fakhrizadeh’s car was moving in a convoy with three security vehicles when he came under fire. Iranian state media said a remote-controlled machine gun opened fire on the nuclear scientist, who had been a long-time target for Israel.

The operation, which Israel has not publicly acknowledged, was carried out with remarkable precision, and it displayed a deep knowledge of Fakhrizadeh’s pattern of life.

And yet despite its repeated inability to stop the Mossad, Iran has proven incapable of improving.

Ram Ben Barak, the former deputy director of the Mossad, said the organization’s continued success is “due to a very, very disliked regime, even hated by most of the public, so this allows for intelligence penetration on one hand, and on the other, you have the sophistication and professionalism of the Israeli intelligence personnel.”

After the start of the war in Gaza, Israel assassinated Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the heart of Tehran. A source familiar with the matter said Israel planted an explosive device in a guest house where Haniyeh was known to stay. The bomb was concealed in the room for two months before the targeted killing and detonated remotely once Haniyeh was in the room.

Former England football captain David Beckham, Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman and The Who front man Roger Daltrey are among the prominent figures awarded knighthoods in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours list.

Beckham, 50, was recognized for his services to sport and charity. A global soccer icon and former Manchester United midfielder, Beckham has represented England 115 times and clinched league titles across four countries.

He was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2003 and has since expanded his influence beyond the pitch. He has worked as an ambassador for the worldwide children’s charity UNICEF since 2005 and has been an ambassador for the King’s Foundation since last year.

As a result of his knighthood, his wife, fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, will now be formally styled Lady Beckham.

Co-founder and lead singer of legendary British rock band The Who, Daltrey, 81, was honored for his services to charity. Alongside his storied musical career, Daltrey has served as a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust since 2000, spearheading its annual concert series at London’s Royal Albert Hall for more than two decades.

The Who, formed in London in 1964, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Of the band’s four founding members, only Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend are still alive.

Oldman, 67, who played Harry Potter’s godfather Sirius Black in several of the movies in the franchise, was awarded a knighthood for services to drama. In 2018, the Hollywood star won an Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the film “Darkest Hour.”

Most honors in the UK are awarded twice a year – on the monarch’s official birthday in June, and in the New Year. The list is compiled by the government and signed off by King Charles, with nominations reviewed by independent panels across different sectors.

The most recent New Year Honours list saw knighthoods conferred on actor Stephen Fry, former England soccer manager Gareth Southgate and London mayor Sadiq Khan.

Thousands of activists from around the world are expected to descend on Egypt on Thursday for a “Global March to Gaza,” a movement aiming to break the Israeli blockade that has pushed the territory to the brink of famine.

The march puts Egypt in an awkward position as it tries to balance its ties with Israel and the United States against its public condemnation of the war’s brutal toll on Gaza’s civilians. A key mediator with direct channels to both Hamas and Israel, Cairo has been wary of the conflict spilling over into its territory. It has kept its side of the Rafah crossing closed to Palestinians, even as anger at Israel’s actions continues to rise at home.

In a statement Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he expects the Egyptian government “to prevent the arrival of jihadist demonstrators to the border of Egypt-Israel and not to allow them to carry out provocations and to try to enter into Gaza.”

This will “endanger the security of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers and we will not allow it,” Katz added.

The international activists will be joined by another convoy of 2,000 protesters arriving from Tunisia. That group arrived in Libya, which neighbors Egypt, on Wednesday, organizers said.

Among those joining the march are Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, a former South African lawmaker and grandson of Nelson Mandela, and Hala Rharrit, a former US State Department diplomat who resigned from her US government position during the Biden administration over Washington’s handling of the Gaza war.

As Israel’s war in Gaza enters its 21st month, high-profile international campaigners are becoming increasingly active in their attempt to break the siege.

On Monday, Israel intercepted a Gaza-bound aid ship, the “Madleen,” detaining its passengers and taking them to Israel.

Among the activists on board was Swedish climate and human rights activist Greta Thunberg and French member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan. Thunberg departed Israel on Tuesday and Hassan remains in Israeli detention.

Israel imposed a full humanitarian blockade of Gaza on March 2, cutting off food, medical supplies and other aid to the more than 2 million Palestinians in the territory for 11 weeks.

Faced with growing international pressure, it began allowing a trickle of aid in late May. But humanitarian organizations say it is only a fraction of the aid that entered the enclave before the war.

Organizers of the Global March to Gaza have said that they have reached out to Egyptian authorities, informing them of their plans and asking for cooperation and protection but have received no response.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement that activists must obtain permits ahead of their arrival in Cairo.

“Egypt stresses the importance of adhering to these established regulatory measures to ensure the safety of visiting delegations due to the sensitive security conditions in this border area since the onset of the crisis in Gaza,” the ministry said, adding that “that no requests or invitations will be considered or responded to if submitted outside the framework specified by the regulatory provisions.”

Organizers said they followed “all the required protocols detailed in this statement.”

On Thursday, organizers said 170 people are currently facing delays and deportations at Cairo airport, but that thousands of participants are already in Egypt and are determined to continue their march.

Egyptian authorities “have no reason not to support this march,” Rharrit said, adding that delegations across the world had informed Egyptian embassies of their plan well ahead of time.

“There have been meetings with Egyptian ambassadors. Egyptian authorities have not said no,” she said, adding that the march is “in line with everything Egypt has been trying to do diplomatically.”

A huge collection of historic gold coins, recovered from the wall of a house in France after their owner passed away, has been sold for millions of euros at auction.

The coins were collected by Paul Narce, who lived in a small village in south-west France until his death in 2024, according to Beaussant Lefèvre and Associates.

“Narce, who lived a modest life and didn’t see a lot of the world, spent all of his money on his collection,” said coin expert Thierry Parsy in a statement previewing the sale.

Over the years, he built up a collection of gold coins “exceptional both in number, with more than 1,000 pieces, as well as the rarities it contains,” said Parsy.

Many of the coins date back centuries, according to Parsy.

Among them are ancient coins from the Kingdom of Macedonia, dating to 336-323 BC, as well as almost complete series of coins used during the reigns of French Kings Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI.

Narce had no direct descendants and only a few people knew of his hobby.

However, no one knew where he kept his collection, which “could have remained undiscovered forever,” said Parsy, were it not for a notary who set out to find the coins in the house, which had been empty since Narce moved into a care home a year before he died.

The notary eventually found the coins in a small space in the wall, hidden behind a painting in a store room.

In addition to the carefully labelled collection, the notary also found 10 packages, each containing 172 gold 20 franc coins, equivalent to an ingot of gold.

The final sale far exceeded the pre-auction estimate of 2 million euros ($2.43 million).

Western countries have slashed foreign aid budgets this year and reductions will steepen in 2026, with the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada cutting the most, according to a new analysis from the Center for Global Development (CGD).

Smaller nations will also be hammered by the reduction in foreign aid, with Lesotho, Micronesia and Eswatini each losing around 50% of their aid.

The analysis looked at projections of bilateral aid – money provided directly to another country rather than routed through multilateral organizations such as United Nations agencies or the World Bank – for 2025 and 2026.

The US is projected to cut the most, with a projected 56% reduction compared to levels two years ago.

The Trump administration’s gutting of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) earlier this year has already left a hole in many international aid budgets, and several other Western nations are following suit rather than filling the void.

“A big, big chunk of overall cuts in the next couple of years are going to be from the US pulling out, rather than other countries. But these other countries are making things worse,” said Crawfurd, a senior research fellow at the CGD.

The UK aid cuts are estimated to represent a roughly 39% reduction compared to 2023 levels of spending. Meanwhile, Germany is cutting about 27%, Canada 25% and France 19% of their international aid budgets.

The true level of aid cuts remains unclear, as the Trump administration’s proposed budget and other government proposals are still making their way through legislatures. But some funding cuts are almost guaranteed.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in February that his government would increase the UK’s defense spending by cutting its aid budget to 0.3% of gross national income in 2027, its lowest level since 1999.

Many organizations and aid workers have raised alarm about European governments pitting aid budgets against defense spending.

“Cutting the already lean aid budget is a false economy and will only increase division and amounts to a betrayal of the world’s most vulnerable people,” said Halima Begum, head of Oxfam GB. “It is a false dichotomy to pit international cooperation to tackle poverty against national security interests in order to avoid tax increases.”

Crawfurd said that bilateral aid is a “really small part of government budgets” and the money for defense or security could be found elsewhere. “It’s a choice… it’s a political choice,” he added.

The think tank wrote in its analysis that “one striking takeaway is that some countries are projected to lose large amounts of ODA (official development assistance) simply because of who their main donors are – while others are projected to lose very little” – a game of chance, with losses not matching up to the recipient country’s needs.

Yemen, for example, is projected to experience a 19% fall in its bilateral funding compared to 2023, while its “comparable” neighbor country Somalia is projected to lose about 39%.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also warned that multilateral aid cuts are threatening efforts to tackle 44 of the highest-priority, protracted humanitarian crises. As of April, only 11.9% of the funding for UN response plans had been covered.

Minimizing the damage

The CGD is urging Western donors to reallocate aid to the poorest countries to try to “ensure that resources are directed to populations in greatest need.”

Western countries also need to improve coordination to mitigate further damage, especially as they are withdrawing from countries receiving aid, the think tank said.

In some countries, the cuts will change who the largest donor is, which “can lead to major shifts in what gets funded and how,” according to the CGD. For example, Portugal will likely overtake the US in aid to Angola, and Japan is projected to overtake France in Egypt. “A new lead donor may not continue the same programs” or may take time to get up and running, according to the analysis.

Giving a larger share of aid to multilateral organizations can also help improve international cooperation and cut down on duplication of aid efforts.