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Israel's military shares footage of undercover op on Iran-funded missile plant in Syria
The IDF said id conducted an undercover operation in Syria in September 2024, dismantling an Iranian-backed missile production site.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shared footage of what it called an “undercover operation” in Syria “to dismantle an Iranian-funded underground precision missile production site”.
The undercover operation was conducted in September 2024, months before the fall of the Assad Regime in Syria, IDF said, sharing a montage of clips from the op.
IDF said over 100 soldiers from the its elite Shaldag Unit were part of the covert raid and dismantled an underground missile factory in Syria on September 8, 2024.
“On September 8th, 2024, during a special operation by the Israeli Air Force, troops from the Shaldag Unit raided and destroyed an underground compound for manufacturing precision missiles in the Masyaf area, deep in Syrian territory.”
“For years, the Intelligence Directorate conducted extensive intelligence gathering and monitoring, confirming the value of the target. In the months leading up to the operation, a plan was launched for the Israeli Air Force to destroy it,” IDF said.
The covert op
The soldiers landed using helicopters, with fire and intelligence-gathering support from aircraft, fighter jets, and naval vessels of the Israeli Navy, the statement said, adding that the raid target was an underground compound deep in Syrian territory, “funded and supported by Iran”.
“The compound was a flagship project for Iran's efforts to arm its terror proxies on Israel’s northern border,” the defense force of Israel.
“The compound included advanced assembly lines designed to manufacture precision-guided missiles and long-range rockets, significantly increasing the supply of missiles to Hezbollah and other Iranian terror proxies in the region,” IDF said.
During the operation, the forces were able to find critical machinery for manufacturing precision missiles, including a planetary mixer, numerous weapons, and intelligence documents, which were transferred for investigation, IDF said, adding that the soldiers destroyed the compound and safely returned to Israeli territory.
“The IDF will continue to act strategically and professionally with various methods and tactics to remove threats directed at the citizens of Israel,” it said.
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Israeli officials have accused the former Syrian government of President Bahar al-Assad of helping the Lebanese-based Hezbollah movement receive arms from Iran and say they are determined to stop the flow of weapons into Lebanon.
Iran is a rival of Israel and supports Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the two militant movements in Gaza. Iran has created allies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and of Shiite militias in Iraq to pursue its goals of fighting Israel. Iran-sponsored existing groups with overlapping goals, such as PIJ and Hamas in the Palestinian territories and the Houthis in Yemen also are fighting Israel.
Iran's proxies, Houthis in Yemen as well as Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed groups, are also called the “axis of resistance.”
