JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s military said on Thursday its special forces attacked an underground missile production site in Syria in September that it said was prepared to produce hundreds of precision missiles to be used against Israel by Hezbollah. backed by Iran.
The complex near Masyaf, in Hama province near the Mediterranean coast, was “the flagship of Iranian manufacturing efforts in our region,” Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said at a briefing. with journalists.
“This facility was designed to manufacture hundreds of strategic missiles per year, from start to finish, for Hezbollah to use in its air strikes against Israel,” he said.
He said the plant, dug into a mountainside, had been under observation by Israeli intelligence since construction work began in 2017 and was on the verge of being able to make long-range precision-guided missiles, some of them with a range up to 300 km (190 miles).
“This capability was being activated, so we’re talking about an immediate threat,” he said.
Israeli media have reported on details of the Sept. 8 attack in recent days, but Shoshani said this was the first confirmation from the military, which does not normally comment on special forces operations of this type.
At the time, Syrian state media said at least 16 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the west of the country.
Shoshani said the hours-long nighttime raid was “one of the most complex operations the IDF has conducted in recent years.” Accompanied by airstrikes, dozens of planes and around 100 soldiers in helicopters participated, locating weapons and confiscating documents, he said.
“At the end of the attack, troops dismantled the facility, including the machines and the manufacturing equipment itself,” he said, adding that dismantling the plant was “key to ensuring Israel’s security.”
Israeli officials have accused President Bahar al-Assad’s former Syrian government of helping the Lebanese Hezbollah movement receive weapons from Iran and say they are determined to stop the flow of arms to Lebanon.
As Assad’s government collapsed late last year, Israel launched a series of attacks on Syrian military infrastructure and weapons manufacturing sites to ensure they did not fall into the hands of its enemies.