Exclusive: Iran Missile Damaged Sensitive Israeli Intelligence Site

The Feb. 28 strike landed only feet from Israel’s super-secret spy satellite agency in the heart of old Tel Aviv

The Feb. 28 strike destroyed an entire apartment building, above, and badly damaged the adjacent National Geodetic Institute, its probable target. Iranian spies have helped find targets for Tehran.

On the first day of the joint U.S.-Israeli war against Iran in late February, an Iranian intermediate-range ballistic missile evaded Israel’s heralded air defenses and heavily damaged a secretive geospatial intelligence facility inconspicuously located in a residential Tel Aviv neighborhood, SpyTalk has learned.

The huge Feb. 28 blast in Tel Aviv’s historic Lev Ha’ir quarter, which demolished a residential apartment building and caused serious structural damage to several others nearby, was widely reported by both Israeli and international media. The blast also killed a Filipina caregiver.

But the damage to the National Geodetic Institute, which was located just 50 feet away in one of the neighborhood’s apartment buildings, well within the missile’s blast radius, has gone unreported until now.

It’s highly likely Israel’s military censors prevented any mention of the facility’s proximity to the blast site or the damage it suffered. The reports also did not mention any IDF casualties from the missile strike.

That censorship comes as no surprise. The institute serves Israel’s military intelligence branch’s Unit 9900, an equivalent to the U.S. National Geospatial Agency, one of the 17 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community. Like its American counterpart, Unit 9900, using satellites and aircraft, collects visual and geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, for all IDF operations, including battlefield mapping, reconnaissance and targeting, terrain analysis, monitoring troop movements, and threat detection.

The unit also operates a low-altitude drone squadron for real-time battlefield intelligence. Its detailed 3D maps allow pilots and ground forces to understand building layouts and urban topography before they go into action in places like Gaza and Lebanon.

Other Sensitive Targets

Given its close proximity to the blast site, the institute was almost certainly the missile’s target. The March 1 Iranian missile strike on the Israeli town of Bet Shemesh that killed nine persons and wounded more than 45 also may have been aimed at one of several military installations in the area. They include the Tel Azeka Ridge Military Base and the Elah Valley Satellite Station, both around three miles from Bet Shemesh.

According to Israeli media reports, Israeli counter-espionage officials have uncovered dozens of Israelis, including several IDF soldiers, who were recruited by Iranian intelligence via social media, Telegram or other online channels to spy for Tehran. Paid in cryptocurrency, most were tasked with photographing sensitive sites, tracking public figures or collecting classified military information.

Underscoring the scope and persistence of the threat, Israel’s national police have formed a dedicated unit to handle Iran-related espionage, The Times of Israel reported in April. Over the past two years, more than 50 suspected Israelis have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran.