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Israel Air Force Pilots Recall Bombing Saddam's Nuclear Reactor
(Times of Israel) 35 years after the Israeli air attack that destroyed Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor at Osirak, retired IAF officers and Mossad agents revealed hitherto unknown details of the operation on Israel Channel 10 TV on Friday. Col. (ret.) Ze'ev Raz, who led the June 7, 1981, raid, said they "recognized that flying to Iraq and back was slightly beyond the range of our jets, so we used all sorts of tricks to extend it." The Israeli Air Force could not rely on U.S. tanker planes for mid-flight refueling, and Israeli refueling capabilities would not be operational until 1982, by which point intelligence assessments were that the nuclear reactor would go online. So innovative methods for making the fuel last were introduced, the specifics of which are still secret. Gad Shimron, a former Mossad agent, said Israel during those years had inside intelligence on the Iraqis' efforts to buy equipment abroad and their plans to build a reactor. "There was someone on the inside providing information." Shimron recalled that the reactor's first core, ready for shipping at a small port in southeastern France, exploded in "mysterious" circumstances and was damaged beyond repair. Maj.-Gen. David Ivry, the IAF commander at the time, said the Mossad was able to delay completion of the Iraqi reactor by up to two and a half years.