Details of how Israel’s plans for Iran leaked to the press were explained

The documents were marked “top secret” and appear to come from the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which generates intelligence from satellite and aerial imagery.

Notes on the documents indicate that they required special treatment to protect data provided by a contributing foreign government, Israel, and could only be shared with America’s ‘Five Eyes’ allies: Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

In particular, the documents describe recent military activities by the Israeli Air Force, including the alleged launches of air-launched ballistic missiles, drones and air-to-surface missiles in preparation for an attack on Iran.

The documents specifically mention the possible existence of previously unknown weapons, including “Golden Horizon” ABLMs. Another weapon mentioned, ROCKS, was developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, maker of the Iron Dome.

“We are independent journalists and are not tied to any government agency or organization,” Middle East Spectator said in a post, pushing back on claims in the US media that the collective has ties to Iran.

Middle East Spectator shared that one of his acquaintances received the documents from an anonymous source on Telegram, who declined to identify himself after they first appeared in a private Telegram group with just 7,000 members.

“Middle East Spectator is not aware of any additional leaked classified US documents. We also reiterate that we have no connection with the original source, who we believe is a whistleblower within the US Department of Defense,” the collective said.

“To our knowledge, the documents first appeared in a private Telegram group with just over 7,000 members, where the leaker was likely present. Somehow the documents found their way out of the group.”

The collective clarified that it does not know the identity of the original leaker and cannot verify the authenticity of the documents.

But US officials confirmed the authenticity of the documents to news outlets including CNN, calling the leak “very concerning.”