Fake spies in airlift operation (10)
I believe the answer is:
artificial
'fake' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'spies in airlift operation' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'spies' could be 'cia' (Central Intelligence Agency) and 'cia' is found within the answer.
an anagram of 'airlift' is 'artifil' which is located in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for artificial that I've seen before include "Kiss of life" , "Bogus" , "Contrived, false" , "Assumed" .)