Israel's covert Syria operation signals planning for potential Iran strike
Israel has released details on its daring September commando operation in Syria in a message to Tehran that it is willing and able to do the same in Iran, with or without US participation.
TEL AVIV — Israel’s military command on Thursday revealed details of a clandestine operation carried out in Syria four months ago to destroy an Iranian-built missile production facility.
Describing the Sept. 8 operation as daring and heroic, the army also unveiled body camera footage recorded by the commando force, which included more than 100 fighters of the Israeli air force’s Shaldag unit. The facility, located some 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of Israel’s border with Syria, would have been capable of producing as many as 300 precision long-range missiles that Iran and its proxies could fire on Israel.
Excavations for the facility’s construction began in 2017, placing the plant deep underground in order to avoid detection and aerial bombing. The Military Intelligence Directorate and the Mossad have been monitoring the site ever since. Military observers say the ground operation that destroyed the facility attests to Israel's growing willingness to carry out operations at great distances.
The operation was preceded by airstrikes that killed most of the 30 Syrian fighters guarding the secret facility. The commandos landed in helicopters that also carried field hospital facilities. They located the heavy-duty mixers used to produce rocket fuel as well as eight rocket engines in varying stages of construction. The bombs dropped on the site, the explosives used by the commandos and the weapons destroyed in the facility shook the area.
