Around 720 BCE, the Assyrian empire destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and, according to Bible, sent the Ten Lost Tribes into exile, repopulating the area with exiles from other conquered lands. An excavation of the ancient city of Tel Hadid, located in central Israel, has uncovered evidence of this version of events, according to the Biblical Archaeology Society:

One document [found at Tel Hadid] is a real-estate tablet from the autumn of 698 BCE. Written in Akkadian—the native language of the Assyrian empire—all nine individuals named on the tablet (the buyer, the seller, and seven witnesses) have either Aramean or Akkadian names. Not one individual has a name [invoking the Jewish deity, such as Jeremiah, Isaiah, or Hezekiah], suggesting that the Israelites were gone. Similar Akkadian documents and seals have been found at the nearby site of Gezer.

Two seasons of excavations at Tel Hadid have uncovered buildings and artifacts that shed light on the people brought there by the Assyrians. Once archaeologists uncover the artifacts left behind, they can begin to identify who created them, who built them, and who used them. The archaeologists at Tel Hadid are also intrigued by the motivations of those forcibly resettled by the Assyrians more than 2,700 years ago.

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.