Israel’s Operation Rising Lion: Netanyahu’s Declaration on Fall of Iran Axis

Part 8/#9: The Two State Solution Vs Security Realities

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Israel’s Operation Rising Lion: Military Facts vs. Diplomatic Fiction

When Netanyahu stood before the United Nations on September 26, 2025, the silence from the gallery was a profound, self-imposed blindness. Netanyahu began by invoking the ghosts of the previous year: “Last year, I stood at this podium, and I showed this map. It shows the curse of Iran’s terror axis.” He then delivered the crushing punchline to a world that had ignored him: “Today, that dark cloud has been lifted.”

While Western diplomats dismissed his 2024 warnings as typical Israeli alarmism, Netanyahu returned in 2025 not to warn, but to audit. He was auditing the destruction of a threat the West claimed was “contained,” redrawing the map through the irreversible military realities of Operation Rising Lion.

What the world refused to acknowledge was that the “Axis of Resistance” had already been broken. Three months earlier, during the high-intensity 12-Day War (June 13–24, 2025), Operation Rising Lion had achieved the unthinkable: the physical dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program and the systematic decapitation of Tehran’s proxy network from the Mediterranean to the Bab el-Mandeb.

While European capitals retreated into the performance of “legal warfare”—issuing ICC arrest warrants and prematurely recognizing Palestinian statehood that possessed no internal security structure—Israel was busy rewriting regional power dynamics through undeniable military facts on the ground. By neutralizing the five pillars of the Iranian empire, Netanyahu wasn’t just presenting a speech. In many ways, he was delivering a post-mortem for the old Middle East. This is the story of a civilizational victory that the West, paralyzed by its own deceptions, simply refused to see.

Section 1: Netanyahu’s June 13 Gamble – The Do or Die Strike

On June 13, 2025, at 3:15 AM Tehran time, the Middle East balance of power shifted forever. Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, the largest military strike on Iran since the 1980-89 Iran-Iraq War. The scale was unprecedented: over 200 combat aircraft striking more than a hundred targets in the opening 24 hours alone.

Netanyahu’s calculation was brutal and binary. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had warned: “If we don’t act now, there will not be another generation. If we don’t act now, we simply won’t be here.” The timing was deliberate: the day after the IAEA found Iran in non-compliance with its safeguard obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The first wave destroyed Iran’s senior military command in a single blow. General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s highest-ranking commander, was killed along with IRGC Commander Salami and the head of IRGC Aerospace Forces. This was a strategic decapitation strike against Iran’s senior command.

Section 2: The 12-Day War – What Actually Happened

Israel’s Operation Rising Lion unfolded across 12 days of unprecedented intensity from June 13-24, 2025. The Israeli Air Force achieved what diplomats claimed was impossible: complete air supremacy over Iranian territory while sustaining operations for nearly two weeks.

The nuclear program was the primary target. Netanyahu himself confirmed the results: “We destroyed the main enrichment facility in Natanz, the uranium conversion plant in Isfahan and the heavy water installation in Arak.” The United States joined the offensive directly—on President Trump’s order, US forces destroyed the Fordo underground enrichment facility, an action unprecedented in US-Israel military cooperation. Reflecting on this synergy at the UN, Netanyahu codified the campaign into the historical record: “Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, which I renamed Israel’s Operation Rising Lion — that’s from the Bible — this 12-day war will go down in the annals of military history.”

He wasn’t just boasting of firepower; he was declaring a new era of absolute aerial dominance. As Netanyahu noted, “Our daring pilots neutralized Iran’s missile defenses and took control of the skies over Tehran.” It was the definitive proof that “Military Facts” had superseded decades of failed nuclear diplomacy.

Iran’s response was massive but ineffective. Tehran launched 525 ballistic missiles toward Israel over 12 days. Israeli and American air defenses achieved an 86% interception rate on ballistic missiles and 99% on drones. The civilian toll in Israel: 28 killed, 1,472 injured. Tragic, but strategically insignificant compared to the existential threat removed.

Netanyahu’s June 24 victory speech was not hyperbole: “We removed two existential threats: The threat of annihilation by nuclear weapons and the threat of annihilation by 20,000 ballistic missiles.”

Section 3: The Cascade Effect – When the Axis Collapsed

Israel’s Operation Rising Lion was the final blow to an empire that had already been systematically dismantled. By June 2025, the “Axis of Resistance”—comprising Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Assad regime, and the Iranian core—had been reduced to a single, isolated target.

The Proxy Pillars Crumble (2024): Before the first Israeli jet crossed into Iranian airspace, Tehran’s primary deterrents had been severed. Hezbollah was decapitated in Beirut in September 2024, and Hamas leadership was extinguished in Gaza by October 2024. Simultaneously, the Houthis were marginalized into regional irrelevance, firing only 2-3 ineffective missiles during the 12-Day War.

The Precursor—Assad Falls (December 2024): Six months before Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024, removed the fourth pillar and the Axis’ geographic linchpin. The fall of Damascus meant that by June 2025, Iran was a cornered beast. With its land corridor severed and its proxies neutralized, Tehran attempted to fill this vacuum with rapid nuclear escalation, leading directly to Netanyahu’s decision to launch the 12-Day War.

Hezbollah Decimated (September-October 2024): Before Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, Israel had already gutted Hezbollah. Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader since 1992, was killed on September 27, 2024, in an airstrike on the group’s Beirut headquarters. His successor, Hashim Safi al-Din, survived less than a week before Israeli forces eliminated him. By November 2024, IDF estimates put Hezbollah casualties at 3,800 fighters killed—over 10 times its losses in the 2006 Lebanon War.

Hamas Leadership Eliminated (2024): The political wing collapsed first. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, was assassinated in Tehran on July 31, 2024—killed in an Iranian Revolutionary Guard guesthouse during the Iranian president’s inauguration. Yahya Sinwar, October 7’s architect and Haniyeh’s successor, was killed by IDF forces on October 16, 2024, in a chance encounter during a routine patrol in Rafah. Military chief Mohammed Deif was eliminated in July, along with deputy Saleh Arouri.

The message was unmistakable: Tehran’s proxies were being systematically decapitated in a sprawling operation with little precedent in modern history.

Standing before the General Assembly, Netanyahu delivered the ultimate strategic ledger, turning the podium into a post-mortem for the Axis of Resistance: “Half the Houthi leadership in Yemen — gone. Yahya Sinwar in Gaza — gone. Hasan Nasrallah in Lebanon — gone. The Assad regime in Syria — gone.”

This was not just a list of casualties; it was the final audit of an empire. As Netanyahu concluded, “And for Iran’s top military commanders and its top atomic bomb scientists – well, they’re gone too.” By the time the world realized the scale of the shift, Tehran’s proxies were no longer a ring of fire, but a ring of ghosts.

Houthis Marginalized: Yemen’s Houthis, once firing ballistic missiles at Israeli cities, fired only 2-3 missiles during Iran’s 12-day retaliation. When your patron state is under existential threat, proxy solidarity becomes a luxury you can’t afford.

Section 4: Trump-Netanyahu Nuclear Prevention – The Diplomatic Revolution

President Trump’s role in Israel’s Operation Rising Lion represents a historic shift in US-Israel military cooperation. For the first time, American forces didn’t just defend Israel—they participated offensively in destroying an adversary’s nuclear program.

The diplomatic backdrop was theater. Trump publicly opposed the strike: “I don’t want them going in because, I mean, that would blow it,” referring to ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran. Analysts noted the “grand deception”—Trump played dove so Netanyahu could play hawk, lulling Tehran into believing Washington would restrain Jerusalem.

After the strike began, Trump’s tone shifted: “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a… no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn’t get it done.” Translation: diplomatic cover expired, military action commenced.

Netanyahu’s gratitude was explicit, framing the offensive as a turning point in global security. “I want to thank President Trump for his bold and decisive action,” he declared, acknowledging that the joint operation did more than just damage infrastructure. As Netanyahu noted, the campaign “removed an existential threat to Israel, and a mortal threat to the civilized world.”

This was the ultimate validation of the “Grand Deception” that had kept the Axis off-balance for months. While the world focused on diplomatic friction, the reality was a historic shift in US-Israel military cooperation—one where American B-2s were already in the air while the “dove” was still playing his role at the negotiating table.

Section 5: Why Peace With Syria and Lebanon is Now Possible

The strategic landscape Netanyahu described in his September 2025 UNGA speech has materialized.

Syria: With Assad’s 54-year family dictatorship ended and a transitional government led by former opposition groups in Damascus, Iran’s land corridor to Hezbollah is severed. Israel now has complete air supremacy over Syria—something unimaginable in October 2024. The interim Syrian government faces immense pressure from Turkey, Gulf states, and Western powers to normalize. A Syria without Iranian military infrastructure is a Syria with which peace becomes conceivable.

Lebanon: The current trajectory suggests that the Lebanese government may soon be forced to move against Hezbollah’s illegal military activities to preserve what remains of their state, declaring all such operations “illegal.” Hezbollah, having lost most of its leadership and military capability, can no longer threaten northern Israel. A November 2024 ceasefire holds, though Israel continues violating it to prevent Hezbollah’s resurgence. The Lebanese government’s move to disarm Hezbollah—unprecedented—signals that Lebanon’s political establishment recognizes the group’s “resistance” narrative is finished.

The Two Realities – Military Facts vs. Diplomatic Fiction

Netanyahu’s September 2025 UNGA speech was prescient. While Western diplomats recognized Palestine and issued ICC arrest warrants, Israel was dismantling the Iranian threat structure brick by brick.

The diplomatic reality: 157 UN members now recognize Palestine. ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant obligate 125 member states to arrest them.

The military reality: Iran’s nuclear program destroyed. Assad gone. Hezbollah crippled. Hamas leadership eliminated. The “Axis of Resistance” seemingly reduced to scattered remnants.

Netanyahu’s conclusion in his June 24 victory speech echoes through time: “On October 7, we were in the abyss. We suffered the worst disaster in the history of the state. But thanks to the joint forces of the Government, the security services and you, the people, we recovered and returned fire. Approximately 20 months later, we took control of the skies over Iran.”

The military reality stands in stark contrast to the diplomatic fiction. While Western capitals retreated into the performance of “legal warfare,” Netanyahu used the UN podium to remind the chamber of the burden Jerusalem had carried alone: “Israel is doing the dirty work for all of us.”

The dismantling of the Iranian terror axis was not merely an act of self-preservation; it was a strategic gift to a world that lacked the courage to act. As Netanyahu concluded, this victory “opened up possibilities for peace that were unthinkable two years ago.” Before the facts were rewritten on the ground, the West chose arrest warrants; Israel chose a new Middle East.

Disclaimer:
Some arguments presented in this article are interpretative analyses based on publicly available information and geopolitical assessment.

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Glossary of Terms

1. Operation Rising Lion: Israel’s 12-day military campaign (June 13-24, 2025) targeting Iran’s nuclear program, military leadership, and ballistic missile infrastructure. The largest strike on Iran since the 1980–1989 Iran–Iraq War.
2. IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency. Found Iran in non-compliance with Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations on June 12, 2025—one day before Israel’s Operation Rising Lion commenced.
3. IRGC: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran’s elite military force tasked with defending the Islamic Revolution and managing Tehran’s regional proxy network.
4. Axis of Resistance: Iran’s network of allied armed groups including Hezbollah (Lebanon), Hamas (Gaza), Houthis (Yemen), and various militias in Iraq and Syria.
5. Fordo: Iran’s underground uranium enrichment facility, destroyed by US forces during Israel’s Operation Rising Lion on President Trump’s orders—marking unprecedented offensive US-Israel cooperation.
6. HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham): Former Al-Qaeda affiliate that led the rebel coalition that toppled Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024. Now leads Syria’s transitional government.
7. Dar al-Harb: Islamic theological term meaning “House of War”—territories not governed by Sharia law, viewed as requiring eventual Islamic conquest or governance.

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