Relevent quote:
Nearly all the traffic cameras in Tehran had been hacked for years, their images encrypted and transmitted to servers in Tel Aviv and southern Israel, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Israel leveraged extensive intelligence gathering, including hacked traffic cameras and disrupted mobile phone networks, to assassinate Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior Iranian officials. This operation, part of a decades-long focus on Iran, involved sophisticated data analysis to build “patterns of life” and pinpoint targets. The intelligence picture of Tehran was so detailed that “we know Tehran like we know Jerusalem,” according to an Israeli official. While this demonstrated advanced Israeli targeting capabilities, the long-term strategic gains of such assassinations remain debated. The attack was timed to coincide with a meeting, capitalizing on an opportune moment during a period of heightened tensions and prior to potential evasive measures by Iranian leadership.