The IDF and United States forces coordinated an extensive joint operation — including diversionary airstrikes and intelligence sharing — to rescue two American aircrew members after their F-15 was shot down over Iranian territory last Friday, senior Israeli and US officials told The Jerusalem Post.

The 48-hour operation, which a senior US official called “the boldest and most courageous rescue operation in history,” relied on IDF strikes against Iranian targets designed to draw Iranian security forces away from the crash site, as well as targeted sabotage of Iranian military assets intended to degrade Tehran’s ability to locate the downed crew.

According to sources familiar with the operation, the IDF launched a series of strikes against Iranian targets in coordination with US forces. The strikes were calibrated not primarily for battlefield effect but to serve as a diversion, pulling Iranian security personnel toward other areas while an American extraction team moved toward the pilots.

In parallel, Israeli forces targeted specific Iranian assets with the aim of disrupting and partially blinding the Iranian military to the pilots’ location during the critical extraction window.

“It was a US rescue mission; they did what many feared might not happen,” an Israeli official told the Post. “Israel did what it could and what it was asked to do by the US military in order to help and save lives.”

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and US Central Command Commander Admiral Brad Cooper remained in direct contact throughout the 48-hour operation, officials said.

Israeli intelligence was also described as a key component of the mission’s success, though officials did not elaborate on the specific nature of the intelligence provided.

The aircrew consisted of two individuals. US forces rescued the pilot on the day of the shootdown, but the second airman remained stranded in mountainous terrain for 36 hours before being extracted. The airman has not yet been publicly identified.

To complicate Iran’s search for the missing airman, the CIA mounted a disinformation campaign, spreading word inside Iran that US forces had already located him and were moving him overland for exfiltration. The effort confused Iranian forces and leadership as they raced to find him.

Foreign reports have claimed that Israeli special forces commandos participated directly in the ground operation. An IDF source flatly denied those accounts.

“These reports are completely false,” the source told the Post.

Officials on both sides characterized the operation as a US-led effort in which Israel played a supporting role at Washington’s request.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)