It was just after 2.15am when Iranians woke to the sounds of explosions and the first plumes of smoke began to rise near the capital.
After weeks of speculation, leaks and fierce battles against Iran’s proxies on its borders, Israel finally launched its retaliation against Tehran’s missile barrage last month.
Codenamed “Days of Repentance”, Israel declared “mission completed” within four hours of the first strike, after bombing military targets across the Islamic Republic and triggering panic in Iranian cities by the time fighter jets returned home.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, had promised Iran “would pay for it” after launching a barrage of 180 missiles and drones which rained down on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Oct 1.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, he sat in a war room wearing a black puffer jacket and blue shirt as the order was given to fire the first missiles towards Tehran, southern Khuzestan and western Ilam provinces.
Flanking him were Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, and generals at the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) headquarters in Kirya, Tel Aviv, as fighter jets targeted the factories and storage facilities used to make the weapons launched 1,500km in the other direction three weeks ago.
At one point, Major General Herzi Halevi, commanding the mission, was seen looking tense, as General Tomer Bar, the Air Force commander, gave instructions on a military phone, as the first wave against Iranian air defences had been completed.