By Tal Shalev, Jeremy Diamond, CNN

Tel Aviv (CNN) — The traffic cameras on the streets of Tehran provided a real-time view of the targets.

Hacked years ago, the cameras allowed Israel to map the city in detail, establish patterns of movement, and build an intricate complex picture of what was happening inside an enemy capital, according to an Israeli official.

The cameras were only one part of a much more complex system, some of whose details were first reported by The Financial Times, that allowed Israel to build one what one Israeli source familiar with the matter called an AI-powered “target production machine” capable of processing massive amounts of data.

In went visual intelligence, human intelligence, signals intelligence, intercepted communications, satellite imagery and more. Out came a pinpoint location in the form of a 14-digit grid coordinate. The sheer quantity of information required powerful computers to process, sort, and analyze the data to draw out what Israel wanted: targets.

The system, created over the past decade, requires a team of people to validate the strike recommendations and fine-tune the processes, the source said, including technologists, data analysts, and engineers.

It has added to what Israel has repeatedly shown to be a longstanding penetration of Iran’s inner circles, which has enabled it to assassinate scores of Iran’s top nuclear scientists and officials over the years, steal the country’s nuclear archive, and kill Hamas’ political leader in Tehran.

For Israel, the system has proven itself before.

At the beginning of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June last year, the Israel Defense Forces unleashed the same capabilities in the opening strike, according to a second Israeli source, killing Iran’s highest-ranking military officer, the head of its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and a close aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among others.

On Saturday morning, as the US and Israel launched a massive joint strike against Iran, the system was put to use once again.

The primary target was Iran’s now deceased supreme leader Ali Khamanei, who Israeli officials believe felt less vulnerable during daylight hours. Defense Minister Israel Katz previously said that Israel did not have the opportunity to target the supreme leader in June, as he likely took shelter in underground bunkers and went silent.

Now the opportunity had arisen to take out not just Khamenei, but also Iran’s top security and military leaders, several of whom were replacements for those Israel had killed in June.

Although the US and Iran were engaged in negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believed the talks were doomed to fail. The Trump administration offered shifting answers about what it wanted out of the talks, but Israel made clear it felt there was never going to be enough common ground to reach a deal, and certainly not one Netanyahu — who had lobbied vociferously against the previous Iran nuclear agreement — would find acceptable.

For Israel’s longest-serving leader, who has spent much of his political career preaching to the world about the dangers of a nuclear Iran, the time to strike was at hand. Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump at the White House on February 11. The private discussion between the two leaders lasted nearly three hours, and they released only a single photo.

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By Francesca Street, CNN

(CNN) — Lesley Ballantyne woke in the early hours to an emergency alert flashing on her phone: “Potential missile threats, seek immediate shelter in the closest secure building.”

Her husband, Alistair, seemed to have slept through it. Ballantyne got out of bed and peered through the cabin window. Outside, nothing but darkness — and the illuminated lights of Dubai port.

That was Sunday.

Two days later, Ballantyne was still aboard the MSC Euribia, a 331-meter, 19-deck cruise ship berthed in Dubai.

The Euribia is one of a number of vessels currently unable to depart the Middle East because of the escalating Iran conflict. For thousands of passengers and crew, routine leisure sailings through Gulf and Red Sea ports have become uncertain waiting games, as ships alter routes, delay departures or remain docked amid security concerns.

“We’ve heard some loud bangs, seen some missiles being intercepted from the ship but it all seems in the distance,” Ballantyne, who is from Scotland, told CNN Travel.

After the emergency alert, when she didn’t see anything outside her window, she figured all she could do was return to bed. “Nothing to see. So I went back to bed and back to sleep.”

‘Worried sick’

For Ballantyne, the moment epitomized the strangeness of the whole situation — a sentiment echoed by fellow passengers.

“Never, never, ever did we think we’d get caught up in something like this,” Sharon Cockram, another British passenger on the Euribia, told CNN. “It’s always something you watch on the TV from home.”

The ships and passengers don’t seem to be going anywhere soon. Airspace in the region is closed or limited, and vessels cannot transport passengers home by sea because they are avoiding the Strait of Hormuz, a usually-busy waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

The Joint Maritime Information Centre recently upgraded its regional risk assessment to “critical,” its highest level, indicating that an attack is “almost certain.”

Also stuck in Dubai is Celestyal Discovery, a mid-sized vessel operated by Greek company Celestyal Cruises. One of its sister ships, Celestyal Journey, is docked in Doha. German cruise company TUI has two ships in the region — Mein Schiff 5 in Doha, and Mein Schiff 4 in Abu Dhabi.

TUI Cruises said Wednesday that a special Emirates flight departed from Dubai to Munich with 218 guests from Mein Schiff 4.

Remaining passengers on affected vessels also hope to eventually disembark and fly home, but with the geopolitical situation fluid and unstable, return dates are uncertain.

Cockram is particularly desperate to get home to the UK because her daughter is pregnant. The due date is in a couple of weeks, but the latest midwife update is “could be anytime.” This will be Cockram’s first grandchild, and she and her husband want to be there for this moment. They are also concerned that the stress of their current predicament will affect their daughter’s health.

“Our daughter in the UK is worried sick and heavily pregnant, something we could all do without,” Cockram said.

A strange normality

Both she and Ballantyne said they feel s

Por Cristopher Ulloa

A días de terminar su periodo presidencial, el mandatario chileno, Gabriel Boric, aseguró este lunes que hubo amenazas “explícitas” por parte de Estados Unidos hacia Chile debido al proyecto de un cable submarino de fibra óptica que unirá a su país con China.

“Creo que es bueno para Chile (el cable de comunicaciones) siempre que se cumpla con la legislación chilena y la protección de datos. Chile no puede actuar sujeto a amenazas”, afirmó Boric en entrevista con el medio Meganoticias. Agregó que esas amenazas habrían sido “explícitas” por parte de Estados Unidos: “Por ejemplo, la revocación de visas a todos los involucrados en la situación o cancelar la visa waiver”.

“Estados Unidos plantea que eso (el cable submarino con China) es una amenaza para su seguridad nacional. Nosotros jamás vamos a hacer algo que atente contra nuestra propia seguridad”, recalcó Boric.

El proyecto Chile-China Express pertenece a la empresa china Mobile International y busca mejorar la conectividad e intercambio de datos. Según Boric, su concesión ya había sido aprobada, pero el proyecto fue detenido antes de llegar a la Contraloría por decisión propia. “Yo tomé la decisión de que, como este es un tema tan sensible, tan delicado, requería una conversación con el presidente electo. Esto no podía estar subordinado a las amenazas de un determinado país”, señaló desde el archipiélago de Juan Fernández.

La situación se da luego que Estados Unidos cancelara la visa al ministro de Transportes de Chile, Juan Carlos Muñoz, y otros dos funcionarios más del gobierno que estuvieron involucrados en este proyecto.

“El Departamento de Estado anuncia que ha tomado medidas para imponer restricciones de visado a tres funcionarios del Gobierno chileno que, a sabiendas, dirigieron, autorizaron, financiaron, prestaron un apoyo significativo y/o llevaron a cabo actividades que comprometieron infraestructuras críticas de telecomunicaciones y socavaron la seguridad regional en nuestro hemisferio. Estos individuos y sus familiares directos no podrán ingresar a Estados Unidos, y se les han revocado todos los visados estadounidenses que poseían”, señaló el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos el 20 de febrero.

El codirector ejecutivo de la organización Derechos Digitales, Juan Carlos Lara, dijo a CNN Chile, afiliada de CNN, que el principal riesgo de un cable submarino para la seguridad regional radica en la posible interceptación de las comunicaciones. No obstante, detalló que existen mecanismos para limitar este tipo de vulneraciones.

“Parte de las comunicaciones que se producen dentro del territorio chileno, o que llegan a Chile desde otros países, pueden transmitirse, en este caso, a través de un cable directamente hasta un país en Asia”, aseguró Lara. “Existen algunas formas o mecanismos técnicos que pueden limitar la forma en que quien intercepta una comunicación sepa cuál es su contenido, es decir, el cifrador de comunicaciones existe”.

Boric explicó que conversó por teléfono con el presidente electo, José Antonio Kast, quien asumirá el cargo el 11 de marzo. “Le dije: ‘Hay una solicitud de una empresa china de instalar un cable. Esto ha generado amenazas por parte de Estados Unidos. Creo

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