Authorities inspect debris from a truck after a truck hit people waiting at a bus stop near the Glilot junction on October 27, 2024 north of Tel Aviv, Israel
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

A driver rammed his truck into a crowd of people at a bus stop in central Israel on Sunday (October 27, 2024), killing a man and injuring more than two dozen people, medics and police said.

Police did not immediately say whether the incident, near the Mossad spy agency’s headquarters and other Israeli intelligence sites, was an attack or an accident.

In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers killed a man the military said tried to stab them during a “counterterrorism” operation near Jerusalem, describing it as a “terror attack” against troops.

“The truck ramming in Ramat Hasharon, north of Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv, left at least 29 people injured, including several in serious condition,” emergency service providers Magen David Adom said in a statement.

“One of those hurt died later of his injuries,” said the hospital where he was taken for treatment.

Preliminary police findings showed the truck driver also hit a bus that had stopped at the same station to drop off passengers, the police said in a statement.

The police added that civilians at the scene “shot the truck driver and neutralised him”.

Paramedic Elior Yosef, who arrived at the bus stop after the ramming, said he saw eight people “trapped under the truck”.

“A number of further casualties were either lying or walking near the truck,” he was quoted as saying in the Magen David Adom statement.

Officers and ambulances rushed to the scene, where AFP journalists saw police cordoning off the area as medics helped the injured and a helicopter hovered above.

Palestinian militant group Hamas, in a statement, said the “heroic ramming attack” that was carried out near “Mossad headquarters… was in response to the crimes committed by the Zionist occupation” against Palestinians.

Elsewhere, the military said a man who tried to stab a group of soldiers was killed in Hizma, a Palestinian town near Jerusalem.

“A terrorist accelerated with his vehicle toward IDF (army) soldiers who were conducting counterterrorism activity adjacent to the area of Hizma,” the military said in a statement, without identifying the attacker.

“The terrorist pulled out a knife from his vehicle, and attempted to carry out a stabbing attack. The soldiers eliminated the terrorist and thwarted the attempted terror attack,” it said, adding no soldiers were hurt.

Since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year, there have been several attacks in Israel carried out by Palestinian militants.

At least 30 people, including Israeli soldiers, have been killed in such attacks in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Sunday’s (October 27, 2024) incidents come as Israel held ceremonies to mark the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

On a blustery, cold January day in 2011 in Lahore, a CIA contractor and former US Special Forces operative was driving through a busy street when two motorcyclists who allegedly attempted to rob him—or that is what he claimed—were shot and killed by him. In the ensuing chaos, he hit another car, got caught and was promptly charged with murder. You might think this was a minor incident, but Washington didn’t.

Davis was hardly a big fish in the CIA pond, yet the Obama administration threw a diplomatic tantrum generally typical of a superpower. Diplomatic relations and the $2 billion in annual aid to Pakistan were frozen. The US falsely claimed Davis was a diplomat, deserving immunity. Pakistan’s investigation showed he was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative and therefore wasn’t covered by diplomatic immunity. Initially, it refused to back down despite the political heat.

In the end, after a 50-day standoff, Davis was whisked back to the US, but not before $2.34 million of blood money exchanged hands, reportedly compensating the victims’ families. He later wrote about this cloak-and-dagger saga in his 2016 book The Contractor: How I Landed in Pakistan’s Deadliest Jail and Then Escaped, revealing how the CIA operates when things get messy.

CIA’s Long Arms

The Raymond Davis affair revealed how deeply the CIA was operating in Pakistan’s backyard, raising public anger about America’s covert meddling in a country it called an “ally” in the war on terror. The Pakistanis felt betrayed by their trusted ally.

This brings us to the present: the CIA, the agency behind countless covert operations all around the world, lectures India on cooperating with Canada over Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s assassination. It’s as if the US forgot it’s been running around the world in the shadows since the CIA’s inception in 1947, toppling governments, orchestrating coups, and assassinating foreign leaders—all in the name of national interest. But let’s not dwell on the hypocrisy or “double standards”, as India’s foreign minister S. Jaishankar put it in a recent interview with NDTV. He didn’t hold back in calling out Canada’s double standards and pointed out how it is quick to gather intel through its diplomats on foreign soil but becomes very protective when it comes to limiting similar activities by diplomats from other nations on its own turf.

Indeed, while Canada plays the victim, it conveniently turns a blind eye to the unchecked privileges its own diplomats enjoy in India. Jaishankar, ever direct, put it plainly: “Double standards is a very mild word for it.” His pointed remark wasn’t just a dig at Canada’s hypocrisy but also an indictment of the wider Western duplicity.

Take the recent case of the US charging former Indian intelligence agent Vikas Yadav with being involved in a plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York. Now, imagine if the tables were turned. Would the US sit quietly? Absolutely not. By now, Washington would have launched a full-scale diplomatic offensive to bring its man home, just like it did in the above-mentioned case of Davis. And if this led to a potential diplomatic row, so be it. The hypocrisy is so obvious.

West’s Unquestioned Hypocrisy

In the murky realm of espionage, agencies like the CIA, Mossad and MI6 have always played by their own rules, causing diplomatic rifts, regime changes and the occasional assassinations. But when the tables turn, if at all, well, it’s all about the rule of law and international cooperation. I do not suggest the Indian spy agency RAW is doing what the likes of CIA, Mossad and MI6 have been doing for decades without being questioned by anyone. The US, for instance, never lectured Israel for Mossad’s countless extraterritorial activities overseas. India is cooperating with the US in the Vikas Yadav case. It wants to cooperate with Canada in its investigation of Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder upon receipt of credible evidence.

Jaishankar’s view isn’t just an Indian perspective—countries across the Global South, and even some in the West, are getting increasingly fed up with the blatant foreign policy double standards.

‘Ajax’ To ‘Condor’, CIA’s Myriad Assassination Plots

The US government’s own report on assassination plots involving foreign leaders reveals some shocking truths about the CIA’s covert operations overseas. The report Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders wasn’t fully declassified and released until July 23, 2002. The report, also known as the Church Committee report, investigated alleged CIA assassination plots against foreign leaders, including Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Congo’s Patrice Lumumba. The report also mentions other foreign leaders who were targeted for assassination, although their names were not disclosed.

Despite the White House’s efforts to bury the report, the Church Committee conducted a thorough investigation into the CIA’s assassination plots. It confirmed the CIA’s involvement in these plots and recommended legislation to prohibit assassinations. The reports also raised important questions about the ethics and legality of targeted killings, which remain relevant today. And yet, the CIA often disregards its rule books and ethical standards.

Some of its notable plots were 

• Operation Ajax (1953): Successfully overthrew Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, consolidating Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s power. This was a joint operation between the CIA and Britain’s MI6. 
• Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961): Failed to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro, resulting in embarrassment to the US and loss of life.
• Operation Condor (1970s-1980s): Supported Latin American dictatorships in eliminating leftist opposition, leading to human rights abuses.

In more recent times, the CIA’s extraterritorial actions in the Middle East, especially during the ‘War on Terror’, have had long-term destabilising effects. US drone strikes, covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have sometimes led to increased radicalisation. While these operations are aimed at counterterrorism, the resulting instability often fuels new cycles of violence and anti-American sentiment.

Mossad’s Misdemeanours

Many experts in the West are bracing for a fiery Israeli strike on Iran in response to Tehran’s October 1 missile attack. But here’s the catch—it may not come from the skies at all. Instead of sending jets and missiles, Israel could very well stick to its trusted playbook: cyberattacks or political assassinations. After all, these methods have proven highly effective in the past, often executed with the help of local assets within Iran. So, while everyone waits for a military show of force, Israel might be quietly sharpening its digital knives or preparing for another covert strike that leaves no fingerprints but sends a very loud message.

It is widely believed, and not disputed by Israel, that Mossad has been actively involved in covert operations inside Iran for years, particularly targeting Iran’s nuclear programme. One might recall the cyberattack using the Stuxnet virus, which disrupted uranium enrichment in 2010. In 2018, Mossad is believed to have stolen 55,000 pages of documents and 183 CDs from Iran’s nuclear archives, revealing the country’s nuclear programme details.

However, Mossad’s most high-profile and controversial actions have been the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. These operations are believed to be part of a broader Israeli strategy to delay or dismantle Iran’s nuclear capabilities, which Israel sees as an existential threat. Between 2010 and 2012, at least five Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated in Tehran in a series of precision attacks that many attributed to Mossad. Israel has not commented on them. The most notable method involved motorcyclists attaching magnetic bombs to the victims’ cars during busy commutes. The victims included Majid Shahriari, a key figure in Iran’s nuclear research, and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a prominent scientist at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. These killings sent shockwaves through Iran’s scientific community, severely damaging its nuclear programme and provoking outrage from Tehran, which accused Israel and the West of orchestrating the murders.

The Strikes On Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

The most striking assassination occurred in 2020 when Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, considered the father of Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, was killed in a highly sophisticated operation. Reports suggested the use of a satellite-controlled machine gun to eliminate Fakhrizadeh near Tehran. This assassination was a major blow to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Mossad’s operations inside Iran demonstrate the agency’s deep penetration into the country and its relentless efforts to undermine Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Iranian secret agents have also been active against Israel, with the Israeli government successfully foiling Iranian plots to assassinate Israelis in Israel, Cyprus and elsewhere.

MI6 And Its Legacy Spy Network

The United Kingdom, as the original colonial power, practically wrote the book on covert operations. MI6, founded in 1909 as the Empire’s main Secret Intelligence Service, was tasked with protecting British interests worldwide—sometimes by any means necessary. One of its most infamous escapades was its role in the 1953 coup against Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, a man who dared to nationalise Iran’s oil, threatening Britain’s golden pipeline. As mentioned above, the MI6 teamed up with the CIA for Operation Ajax, toppling Mossadegh and reinstalling the Shah, whose authoritarian reign would last until the 1979 revolution.

In more recent times, especially during the early 2000s, MI6 found itself embroiled in another scandal, this time involving Libya. Partnering again with the CIA, MI6 was accused of helping to render Libyan dissidents back to Gaddafi’s regime, where they were tortured. The most prominent case was that of Abdel Hakim Belhaj, an opposition leader kidnapped and sent to Libya allegedly with MI6’s help. After years of legal battles, Belhaj won an apology from Prime Minister Theresa May in 2018.

India’s RAW Power

India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was established in 1968 as the nation’s primary external intelligence agency. While RAW has gained significant prominence within the global intelligence community, its capabilities still trail behind those of the CIA, Mossad, and MI6. With a reported budget of around $700 million, RAW operates on a fraction of the resources available to the CIA, whose budget hovers between $18-20 billion. Its main mandate is national security, with a sharp focus on counterterrorism—disrupting terror outfits, cutting off funding to extremists, and monitoring state enemies abroad. 

Contrary to popular belief, RAW does not operate with unchecked power. Its operations are governed by strict directives from the Indian government and, at least on paper, must adhere to Indian laws. While RAW plays a crucial role in safeguarding the nation, it is by no means a rogue agency; it works within the limits of its mandate, with each mission requiring government approval.

From the CIA’s colossal resources and Mossad’s precision strikes to MI6’s legacy of colonial espionage and RAW’s rising influence, these agencies navigate the murky waters of international politics and diplomacy. Yet, they remain indispensable tools of statecraft in an increasingly complex world.

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Hezbollah has dubbed the operation “at your service Nasrallah”. (Representational)

New Delhi:

1. On Saturday night, Hezbollah fired at least 10 missiles into northern towns and cities of Israel’s Jezreel Valley, the Times of Israel reported. This was the deepest incursion by Hezbollah rockets into Israeli territory since the conflict began in early October. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intercepted most of the missiles, but one man in his 60s suffered minor injuries from shrapnel.
2. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the missile barrage and stated that it had aimed at the Ramat David Airbase. Located 50 km from the Lebanon border, the airbase is a key strategic site for the Israeli Air Force. 
3. In response, Israeli jets carried out a series of retaliatory strikes across southern Lebanon. The IDF reported that its airstrikes targeted at least 110 Hezbollah positions, including rocket launchers and operational facilities. The IDF claims it successfully disrupted Hezbollah’s preparations for further rocket launches.
4. The IDF stated that their Saturday afternoon air raids hit approximately 290 Hezbollah sites, including thousands of rocket launcher barrels, as part of their strategy to dismantle Hezbollah’s rocket-firing capabilities. These preemptive strikes were launched to degrade Hezbollah’s ability to launch large-scale attacks on Israeli territory.
5. The intensification of Israeli airstrikes follows Hezbollah’s earlier attack on Israeli military targets, including seven positions in northern Israel and the Golan Heights. Israel’s military reported that Hezbollah had fired about 90 rockets at Israeli forces during these engagements.
6. In addition to military targets, Israel conducted an airstrike on southern Beirut, killing senior Hezbollah commanders. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, the strike left 37 people dead. Among those killed were three children and seven women. Hezbollah confirmed that Ibrahim Aqil, the head of its elite Radwan Force, and other high-ranking commanders were among the dead. 
7. Following the loss of its commanders, Hezbollah vowed retaliation. Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi, another high-ranking Hezbollah commander, was also killed in the same Israeli strike. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah condemned the attack, calling it an act of war, and promised retribution against Israel.
8. The United Nations has expressed concern over the situation, calling for “maximum restraint” from all parties. Germany and other nations have urged an immediate de-escalation. International mediators, particularly from the United States, are working to prevent the Israel-Hezbollah conflict from spiralling into a regional war.
9. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expansion of the country’s war objectives, including the return of northern Israeli residents, who have been forced to evacuate due to Hezbollah’s attacks. Netanyahu said the military’s focus was on dismantling Hezbollah’s ability to pose a threat to Israel’s northern borders, stating that the country’s actions speak for themselves.
10. Amid the heightened conflict, the US State Department has issued an advisory for American citizens in Lebanon, urging them to leave the country while commercial flights are still available. The US raised its travel advisory for Lebanon in July following another Israeli strike that killed a Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

New Delhi:

It’s June, 2009. The streets of Tehran have erupted in protests over the results of a presidential election. The incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has emerged victorious with an overwhelming majority against Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Protesters alleged a fraudulent victory. Among them is a woman named Neda Agha-Soltan, who on her way to join the main protests, parked her car at some distance from the gathering and stepped out as the vehicle’s air conditioner was not working. As she breathed in the fresh air, a sniper belonging to a government-funded militia took aim and shot her square in the chest. She was dead.

While this was unfolding in Tehran, around 300 kilometres to the south at the Natanz nuclear facility, the heart of Iran’s nuclear program – ‘strange’ things were happening. Just days after Neda’s death, the CIA reportedly received approval to initiate a cyber operation against this facility. The operation involved uploading a sophisticated piece of malware, known as Stuxnet, directly onto Iranian hardware. This malware had been in development for years, a collaborative effort between the United States and Israel, and represented the world’s first digital weapon.

Stuxnet: The Genesis

Stuxnet was not a new presence in Iran’s nuclear infrastructure; it had been causing disruptions for years. However, this new version was designed to deliver a decisive blow. 

The story of Stuxnet’s development and deployment began years earlier. The inception of Stuxnet can be traced back to the early 2000s, during a period of heightened tension between Iran and Western nations over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The Bush administration, concerned about Iran’s potential to develop nuclear weapons, sought unconventional methods to impede Tehran’s progress. Thus, the covert operation codenamed ‘Olympic Games’ was born. This initiative, involving close collaboration between the CIA, the NSA, and Israel’s Mossad, aimed to create a digital weapon capable of physically disrupting Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities.

Stuxnet was not an ordinary piece of malware. Its design reflected a level of sophistication unprecedented in the realm of cyber weapons. The malware targeted Siemens Step7 software, used to control industrial equipment, specifically focusing on the centrifuges at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility. These centrifuges, essential for enriching uranium, operated at high speeds and required precise control to function correctly.

Stuxnet: The Execution

The US built a replica of Iran’s nuclear facility in its Oak Ridge facility in the state of Tennessee, where they meticulously studied the centrifuges to understand how to sabotage them without detection. In 2007, the first version of Stuxnet was released, targeting these centrifuges by preventing the release of pressure through the valves, causing the uranium gas to solidify and the centrifuges to spin out of control and ultimately self-destruct.

Photo Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Iran’s nuclear facility was air-gapped, meaning its network was offline, so Stuxnet had to be introduced via an inside agent using a USB drive. The malware operated undetected, using a rootkit to hide its presence and stolen digital certificates to appear as legitimate commands. Despite its effectiveness, initial versions of Stuxnet only slowed Iran’s progress, and did not sabotage it entirely.

In response, US researchers developed a more aggressive version of Stuxnet, using four zero-day exploits and stolen private keys to sign its commands. This version could spread rapidly, even across air-gapped networks, and reprogram the centrifuges to destroy themselves while masking the sabotage as hardware malfunctions.

Stuxnet: The Implications

An insider at Natanz introduced this new version of Stuxnet, and it quickly spread throughout the facility’s network. However, its aggressive nature led to unintended consequences: the malware spread beyond Natanz, infecting computers across Iran and eventually the globe. The CIA, realising the uncontrollable spread of Stuxnet, decided to continue with the operation, hoping it would remain undetected within Natanz.

Photo Credit: Google Earth

Their hopes were dashed when cybersecurity firm Symantec discovered Stuxnet and published a detailed report on the malware. Iran soon realised the extent of the cyber attack and took measures to protect their nuclear program. Despite the setbacks caused by Stuxnet, Iran vowed to continue its nuclear ambitions.

One of the earlier hints of Stuxnet’s existence emerged in June 2010 when a Belarusian cybersecurity firm discovered an unusual piece of malware on an Iranian computer. As cybersecurity experts from around the world began analysing the code, they were astounded by its complexity and purpose. 

Impact On Iran’s Nuclear Program

Stuxnet’s impact on Iran’s nuclear program was significant but not immediately catastrophic. By 2009, Iran had installed over 7,000 centrifuges at Natanz, but Stuxnet caused approximately 1,000 of these to fail. The disruptions forced Iran to temporarily halt its enrichment activities and replace the damaged equipment, delaying its nuclear ambitions by several months to years.

The Iranian government, initially oblivious to the cause of the centrifuge failures, eventually recognised the cyber intrusion. Publicly, Iran downplayed the impact of Stuxnet, but internally, it spurred significant investment in cybersecurity measures and the development of offensive cyber capabilities.

Over the following years, targeted assassinations of key Iranian nuclear scientists further crippled their program. Car bombings and other attacks eliminated many of the leaders involved, including the director of the Natanz facility.

Stuxnet: Global Fallout

Stuxnet did not confine itself to Iran. It spread to other countries, including India, Indonesia, and Pakistan, affecting industrial systems worldwide. In India, several critical infrastructure facilities,  reportedly infecting as many as 80,000 computers. Several power plants and manufacturing units were also found to be vulnerable to similar attacks.

In 2013, India adopted the National Cyber Security Policy which focused on “protection of information infrastructure and preservation of the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information in cyberspace”. The following year, the Centre announced the formation of the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre to further safeguard India’s cyber security space. 
 

Tehran:

Iran’s judiciary has executed a “terrorist” over a drone attack that targeted a defence ministry site in central Iran last year, state media reported on Sunday.

According to state TV, the person “planned to explode the workshop complex of the Ministry of Defence in Isfahan under guidance of the intelligence officer of Mossad”, Israel’s spy agency.

The date of the execution and the identity of the accused person were not immediately clear.

Iran has several known nuclear research sites in the Isfahan region, including a uranium conversion plant. The country’s sanction-hit nuclear programme has been the target of sabotage, assassinations of scientists and cyber-attacks.

Tehran has accused Israel of carrying out several covert actions on its soil.

Iran’s intelligence ministry said in February 2023 that it had arrested the “main actors” involved in the drone attack on a defence ministry site in Isfahan, home to the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.

The previous month, an anti-aircraft system destroyed a drone, and two others exploded during an attack on a defence ministry facility in the province, officials said at the time. 

According to the defence ministry, the night-time attack left no casualties and only caused minor damage.

Authorities did not elaborate on activities at the site, but IRNA said the strike had targeted “an ammunition manufacturing plant”.

Iran has been engaged in a shadow war for years with its arch-enemy Israel.

In August last year Iran claimed to have foiled a “very complex” Mossad-initiated project to “sabotage” its ballistic missile industry.

In January, Iran hanged four members of its Kurdish minority on charges of spying for Israel. They were convicted of collaborating with Israel on a plan to sabotage an Iranian defence site in Isfahan.

In April 2021, Tehran announced it had started producing 60 percent enriched uranium at the Natanz site, a day after accusing Israel of an attack there.

Since last October Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas militants has sent tensions soaring. Iran has supported Hamas in the war, but denied any direct involvement in its attack, or in military action launched by allied armed groups in countries from Lebanon to Yemen.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)