How Israel Tracks a Target 24/7

When a high-value target is eliminated, the dramatic strike is only the final minute of an operation that took weeks. The real story is how intelligence agencies maintain round-the-clock surveillance without ever losing visual contact. This episode breaks down the three surveillance layers — satellite reconnaissance, signals intelligence, and human operatives — and examines the fragile handover protocols that connect them. Drawing on operational failures like the Dubai al-Mabhouh case and successes like the Tehran nuclear archive heist, we piece together how Mossad and Unit 8200 track targets across cities, through buildings, and through shift changes where a single thirty-second gap can collapse an entire operation.