Former Mossad Director Dedi Barnea has revealed that Israel deliberately released footage of its agents operating inside Iran to trigger a massive wave of arrests, making it more difficult for Iranian authorities to identify the actual Israeli operatives.

Speaking at the Priority Summit on Thursday, Barnea disclosed new details about the Mossad’s activities during Operation Rising Lion and the operation targeting Hezbollah terrorists through explosive pagers.

According to Barnea, the Mossad’s decision to publish an official video showing agents operating inside Iran was part of a calculated effort to protect those agents from being identified and captured.

The former intelligence chief explained that Israeli officials wanted Iranian security forces to arrest so many suspects that they would be unable to distinguish genuine Mossad operatives from innocent civilians.

Barnea said approximately 21,000 people were arrested on the second day of the fighting, creating precisely the confusion Israeli intelligence had hoped to achieve.

He claimed that even if Iranian authorities had detained one or two genuine agents, they would eventually have been forced to release them along with thousands of others.

Barnea also revealed that some individuals arrested or executed by Iranian authorities on suspicion of working for Israel had never been associated with the Mossad.

According to Barnea, 99.9% of Mossad agents were never identified, and some continue living in Tehran.

He explained that dozens of operatives had been dispatched into Iran weeks before the military operation, fully aware of their assignments and the importance of maintaining secrecy.

By contrast, Barnea said Israeli Air Force pilots were not informed of the planned strikes when they were initially summoned to their squadrons.

The former Mossad chief said he personally approved each agent participating in the operation, meeting them individually before authorizing their assignments.

Barnea also described the tense final minutes before Israel activated the explosive pagers carried by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.

He recalled sitting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the defense minister, the IDF chief of staff, and the head of Military Intelligence at 3:20 p.m., just ten minutes before the operation was scheduled to begin.

Netanyahu suddenly asked what would happen if the devices failed to explode.

Barnea recalled assuring the prime minister that failure was not a possibility, despite privately becoming concerned about the prospect.

He said the operation had undergone hundreds of tests before receiving final approval.

Barnea also disclosed that he repeatedly ordered technicians to reduce the amount of explosives inside the devices to limit the possibility of harming family members of Hezbollah terrorists.

He acknowledged that the decision reduced the operation’s potential lethality but maintained that Israel had established clear limits regarding possible harm to civilians.

According to Barnea, approximately 4,500 Hezbollah operatives in Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood were left with missing limbs following the operation.

He said the operation damaged Hezbollah on three levels: physically injuring its operatives, undermining morale, and creating lasting fear within the terrorist organization.

The following day’s explosions involving Hezbollah’s communications equipment further intensified that fear.

Barnea’s remarks offered a rare account of the planning and deception behind two of Israel’s most significant intelligence operations against Iran and Hezbollah.

(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)