The Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha relied on air-launched ballistic missiles fired from over the Red Sea, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The newspaper, which cites interviews with senior US officials briefed on the operation, says the strike was designed to avoid having Israeli fighter jets enter Saudi airspace and to be carried out swiftly so the Trump administration would have less time to object.
According to the report, eight F-15s and four F-35s took part in the operation, flying south from Israel over the Red Sea before launching ballistic missiles toward Qatar from the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula.
Israel reportedly didn’t tip off the US until minutes before the strike was launched or give precise details on the target, which the US was able to determine was the Qatari capital using space-based sensors that detected the missiles’ heat signatures.
“Notice was given so close to actual launching of missiles that there was no way to reverse or halt the order,” a senior American defense official is quoted as saying, while describing the operation as “absolutely unimaginable.”
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