Israeli Commando Raid In Syria Sends A Message To Iran That Its Underground Bases Are Not UntouchableThe raid targeted a deep underground Iranian weapons facility and included grabbing large amounts of intelligence before blowing it up using planted charges.
srael destroyed a secretive missile production facility in northwest Syria last week in an attack that included inserting special operations forces by helicopter to retrieve equipment and documents, media outlets are reporting. The new details shed light on an attack initially described as only an airstrike. Not only did the raid strike at the heart of the Iranian military presence in Syria, but it also sent a clear message to Tehran that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) can and will attack deep underground complexes with ground troops that it otherwise cannot destroy from the air.
The raid, which took place September 9, “obliterated” the facility, located in northwestern Syria near the Lebanese border, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed American and other Western officials. “A number of people” were killed at the site, those sources said. It is located about 140 miles north of Israel.
Ground forces were used in the attack “because of its complexity and to recover information from the secret weapons site, the officials said,” according to the Times. They added that there were no Israeli casualties.
https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1834179544602812806The raid also included airstrikes on the sprawling site in Masyaf, which is tied to the Syrian Scientific Studies and Researchers Center (SSRC). Despite its name, the SSRC is actually a network of facilities across the country.
According to the Times, independent experts, Israeli officials, and the U.S. government have described the SSRC’s site in Masyaf “as a center of weapons research and development, aided by the country’s ally Iran. Chemical, biological and potentially nuclear weapons are developed there, as are missiles used by Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed militia group in Lebanon that is fighting Israel.”
The operation was carried out by the Israeli Air Force’s elite Shaldag special operations unit, according to Axios.
“The Israeli special unit surprised the Syrian guards at the facility and killed several of them during the raid, but no Iranians or Hezbollah militants were hurt,” Axios reported, citing anonymous sources. “The special forces used explosives they brought with them in order to blow up the underground facility, including sophisticated machinery, from inside, two sources said.”
Since 2017, Israeli airstrikes have targeted facilities at Masyaf multiple times. Between 2018 and 2022, an S-300 surface-to-air missile system Russia ostensibly gifted to the Syrian government helped guard the site.
“The Iranians began building the underground facility [at Masyaf] in coordination with Hezbollah and Syria in 2018 after a series of Israeli airstrikes destroyed most of the Iranian missile production infrastructure in Syria,” according to Axios’ report today.
...
https://www.twz.com/news-features/israeli-commando-raid-in-syria-sends-a-message-to-iran-that-its-on-underground-bases-are-not-untouchable
