The world continues to discuss the extraordinary operation attributed to Israel in which "Israeli special forces conducted a rare raid in Syria earlier this week, U.S. officials said, killing at least 16 people and striking a blow against a suspected Iranian missile factory" according to the Wall Street Journal.
The strike on Syria attributed to Israel
According to the reports, this was an unusual operation by the Israeli commandos, considering the scope of the attack and the Israeli boots on the ground in Syria in addition to the airstrikes. On Tuesday, American officials told the New York Times that the forces swung down by ropes from helicopters and collected materials from the missile site.
U.S. officials said Israeli officials notified the U.S. of its plan in advance of the operation near the western Syrian city of Masyaf but didn’t elaborate on how or when it would take place. On Sunday, CENTCOM Commander Michael Kurilla visited the IDF's Northern Command where he was presented with the operational plans in Lebanon.
This attack was spectacular and out of the ordinary,” said Andrew Tabler, former director for Syria on the National Security Council and a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It shows that Assad and the regime are still in the Axis of Resistance even if Assad has allowed very few Iranian strikes from his country."
Middle East Institute think tank contributor Charles Lister, who has closely monitored developments at the site based on people in Syria and abroad and local news reports, said the Israeli raid was directed at a factory inside a mountain that develops missiles and rockets. According to him, that facility is controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, and is part of a larger military complex that is managed by Assad’s regime in Syria.
"It is the kind of operation the Israeli military would need to conduct if they were to carry out an attack against a similarly hardened military facility in Iran," said Lister. Israel has accused Iran of using its scientific research center near Masyaf to develop missiles intended for its proxies to use against Israel.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack in Syria on Monday and denied that the Islamic Republic has military sites in the country. The Iranian news agency Tasnim reported there were no Iranian teams there. On Thursday, the Iranian embassy in Damascus denied a report by Syrian television that Israel captured four Iranian operatives during the raid.
The "New York Times" reported on Tuesday that independent experts, Israeli officials, and U.S. officials described the facility where the raid was conducted in Syria as a weapons research and development center that assists Iran. According to the experts, Iran is developing chemical and biological weapons there, and potentially also nuclear weapons, and missiles are used by Hezbollah.
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Assad still in the axis against Israel
(Photo: Sputnik/Valeriy Sharifulin/Pool via REUTERS)
Lister told the New York Times on Tuesday that in the first round of airstrikes, four Syrian positions were destroyed in the Masyaf area, including an air defense site. In the second round, a building in a complex connected to underground tunnels was hit, and in the third, helicopters crossed into Syrian territory and landed several dozen commandos near the bunkers. According to him, while they were advancing in the bunkers, Israeli drones attacked Syrian army forces that were called to the area.
Since the outbreak of war on October 7, Israel has carried out countless strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon but has also resorted to attack Syria due to Iranian or Hezbollah activity on the ground. Overall, the IDF has conducted more than 180 strikes in Syria, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project and the Institute for National Security Studies.