The IDF's revelation of the Israeli commando raid on the Iranian missile production facility used by Hezbollah in Masyaf, located in Syria’s Hama province, was the first time an image a planetary mixer, a vital component used to blend solid rocket fuel components together, was exposed to the public.
Solid rocket fuel enables missiles to be launched without the need for on-site fueling, a process requiring them to be removed from underground shelters and raised upright for nearly an hour—making them easily detectable by satellites and other intelligence tools.
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Planetary mixer at the destroyed Masyaf missile production plant in Syria
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Solid fuel also significantly enhances a missile's range and precision. The planetary mixes precisely combine materials into a homogeneous compound for solid rocket fuel production.
In the raid involving 100 commando special forces, the facility that was intended for the production of hundreds of precision missiles a year, was destroyed and with it, industrial mixers. Initially the forced did not plan to completely destroy the facility but only the planetary mixers without which solid fuel could not be produced.
Israel has been on the hunt to destroy Iran's planetary mixers since 2019, when a drone attack was carried out on the Dahieh, Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut where it was awaiting transportation to one of the missile production sites the terror group had built in the area. According to Lebanese reports, a year later, the IDF navy attacked a vessel that was delivering an alternative planetary mixer to replace the one that was destroyed.
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Planetary mixers, that were almost exclusively in the possession of superpowers – have become some of Israel's main targets in its war against the Shiite axis. After Israel's strike on Iran on October 26, at least a dozen of them were destroyed, pushing Iran's missile production back at least two years. Each planetary mixer costs in the area of $2 million. Currently there are one or two planetary mixers estimated to be in use by members of the Shiite axis and are in the possession of the Houthi rebels.
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Israel has been on the hunt to destroy Iran's planetary mixers since 2019, when a drone attack was carried out on the Dahieh, Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut where it was awaiting transportation to one of the missile production sites the terror group had built in the area.