The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday that its special forces in September attacked an underground factory in Syria that it said was being prepared to produce hundreds of precision-guided missiles for the Lebanese Shiite movement “Hezbollah“ to use against Israel, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The complex near Masyaf in Hama province, located near the Mediterranean coast, is “a leader in Iranian production efforts in the region”, IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said during a press conference.
„The facility is designed to produce, covering the entire process to the finished product, hundreds of strategic missiles per year, which „Hezbollah“ to use in its airstrikes against Israel," he said.
He added that the underground factory, built under a mountainside, had been monitored by Israeli intelligence since its construction began in 2017, and that it was close to the stage where it could produce high-precision guided missiles with long ranges, including up to 300 km.
"This capability was becoming an imminent threat," said Lieutenant Colonel Shoshani.
Details of the September 8 attack have been reported in Israeli media in recent days, but Shoshani said this was the first confirmation from the military, which usually does not comment on special forces operations of this type.
Syrian state media reported at the time that at least 16 people had been killed in Israeli airstrikes in the western part of the country.
Shoshani said that The hours-long night raid was "one of the more complex operations carried out by the IDF in recent years," he said. It was accompanied by airstrikes involving dozens of aircraft and about 100 soldiers in helicopters, who found weapons and seized documentation. "At the end of the raid, the troops destroyed the facility, including the machinery and the production equipment itself," he said, adding that the destruction of the plant was "key to ensuring Israel's security." Israeli officials have accused the former Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad of helping Hezbollah to receive weapons from Iran and say they are determined to stop the flow of weapons to Lebanon.
With the collapse of the Assad government late last year, Israel launched a series of strikes against Syrian military infrastructure and weapons production facilities to ensure they did not fall into the hands of its enemies.