Shock and awe. The words seem almost inadequate to capture the magnitude of the destruction, the scale of Israel's military and strategic audacity. But the images are unequivocal.
Smoke surges skywards. Flames burst across the horizon. Explosions strafe Tehran and Natanz.
At 3am local time yesterday the skies over Iran erupted as Israeli fighter jets penetrated their enemy's airspace, littering the ground beneath with high-tech destruction and death. Operation Am KeLavi (Rising Lion) had begun. Over 200 aircraft roared across Iran, dropping 300 munitions on approximately 100 targets. On the ground, commandos moved silently into place.
By 3.30am, smoke was rising from Tehran. By 4.15am, state TV showed smoke bursting out of Natanz, around 300km away. The Natanz uranium enrichment facility, the jewel in the crown of Iran's nuclear programme, was erupting and, along with it, quite possibly, Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Israel has done the unthinkable. It has done what everybody said it could and should not do. It has, finally, struck the Iranian nuclear programme. Make no mistake, this was a truly historic day. Amid the chaos, and the fear and the noise, I can see the contours of a new Middle East. And like so much else in the region, it is born in violence.
