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What confirmed Mossad operations, if any, took place in Australia in 2024 and what were their objectives?
Executive summary
Mossad publicly credited intelligence that helped expose and link Iranian-directed plots targeting Jewish sites in Australia in 2024, naming a purported IRGC Quds Force commander, “Sardar Amar,” as the organiser of networks behind the attacks; Australia expelled the Iranian ambassador and moved to list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation following those incidents [1] [2]. Available sources describe the Australian incidents as firebombings in Sydney and Melbourne in 2024 and say Mossad asserted those attacks were part of a broader Iranian-linked campaign thwarted with international cooperation [3] [1] [4].
1. What Mossad publicly said — a rare naming of an alleged Iranian operator
In late October 2025 Mossad issued an unusually public statement naming “Sardar Amar,” whom it described as a senior IRGC Quds Force commander leading an 11th Brigade, and saying he directed networks that planned and in some cases carried out antisemitic arson attacks and other violent incidents in 2024 across Australia, Greece and Germany; Mossad framed this as part of a wider Iranian campaign since October 2023 and credited joint operations with partners for thwarting dozens of plots [1] [4] [5].
2. What actually happened in Australia in 2024, as reported
Australian reporting and the summaries in international outlets link two attacks in 2024 — the October firebombing of Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney and the December firebombing that destroyed Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue — to the wider investigation that prompted Canberra’s diplomatic steps; Australian authorities (ASIO and the federal government) said their own intelligence supported action against Iran following those events [3] [1] [2].
3. Australia’s response and attribution steps
Australia expelled the Iranian ambassador in August (as reported across outlets) and moved toward legislating powers to list the IRGC, with the Home Affairs Minister saying Canberra acted on its own intelligence assessments even while Mossad later publicly named the alleged Iranian handler — indicating Australian and Israeli messages were aligned though Australia emphasised its independent intelligence basis [2].
4. Mossad’s asserted objectives and method, per its statement
Mossad described the alleged IRGC objective as attacking Israeli and Jewish targets abroad to “exact a price” while maintaining plausible deniability, and said the Quds Force used local recruited networks and covert communications to carry out arson and other plots. Mossad also released a diagram and a grainy image to support its identification of Amar and the purported organisational chart [1] [3].
5. What was foiled versus what occurred — distinctions in reporting
Sources repeatedly characterise the incidents as both “thwarted plots” and as attacks that occurred: Mossad and allied reporting emphasize that many planned attacks were prevented and networks dismantled, while specific Australian incidents (notably the synagogue firebombing) did occur in 2024 and were treated by Australian agencies as linked to Iranian-directed activity in their assessments [4] [3] [1].
6. Limitations, open questions and alternative viewpoints
Available reporting shows Mossad made public identifications and linked networks across countries, and Australia says its actions were intelligence‑led, but independent, detailed public evidence connecting the named IRGC figure directly to each specific Australian incident is limited in the cited articles; Australian officials emphasised they relied on their agencies’ assessments while Mossad presented its own intelligence narrative [2] [1]. The sources do not publish the underlying raw evidentiary materials, legal filings, or forensic chains that would allow outside observers to fully verify the operational linkage; therefore public confirmation rests on government intelligence assessments as reported [1] [2].
7. Historical context and why this matters for readers
The story resonates with past controversies about covert intelligence activity involving Israel and Australia (reporting has previously raised questions about Mossad operations and Australian passports, e.g., the long‑running Ben Zygier/“Prisoner X” debate), underlining why public naming of foreign intelligence operators is exceptional and politically consequential [6] [7]. Mossad’s disclosure served both a security narrative — crediting disruption of plots — and a diplomatic one, supporting Canberra’s punitive steps and warning of wider Iranian operations [4] [8].
8. Bottom line for the original query
According to the available reporting Mossad did not claim it carried out operations in Australia in 2024; rather, it publicly identified and attributed Iranian-directed networks and an alleged IRGC commander it says was behind attacks (and attempted attacks) on Jewish targets in Australia and elsewhere, and this intelligence fed into allied investigations and diplomatic responses such as the expulsion of Iran’s ambassador [1] [2] [4]. Available sources do not mention any Mossad-performed kinetic operations inside Australia in 2024.