JERUSALEM – Elite Israeli forces carried out a dramatic raid into Syria, destroying a secret underground long-range missile factory that also contained information about Syria’s chemical weapons program in September, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). ).
The IDF first revealed the mission on Thursday in a call with journalists.
“This is one of our most important and complex special operations in recent years, even in this complex year and a half,” said IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani.
The IDF provided spectacular footage of Israeli commandos during the daring mission, as well as the massive explosion of the underground complex after troops had cleared it.
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IDF special forces inside a Syrian missile complex in September 2024. (IDF Spokesperson Unit)
“The precision-guided missile factory or facility was dug into the side of an underground mountain,” the IDF spokesman said.
During the mission, information about Syria’s chemical weapons program was discovered.
“I have seen some of them (notebooks and documents) and many of them contain very specific chemicals,” Shoshani said. “One of them I saw was a chemical handbook that describes how to make a missile at the end of the attack. “Troops dismantled the facility, including machines and manufacturing, to ensure Israel’s security.”
The Assad regime repeatedly used chemical weapons against its population during the nearly 14-year civil war that tore the country apart. The US-designated Hezbollah terrorist movement played a key role in helping the Assad regime during the civil war.
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The factory was designed to manufacture between 150 and 350 missiles per year, including precision guided missiles (PGM), according to the IDF. Commandos from the IDF’s elite air force unit, Shaldag, participated in the mission. The IDF said 30 Syrian soldiers were killed during the operation.
The IDF spokesman told reporters that the operation “targeted an Iranian-funded precision guided missile factory inside Syrian territory, near the Lebanese border. 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 and for its Iranian axis in Syria.
“Due to the specific terrain and the fact that this facility is underground, we were not able to operate from the aerial area. In addition, on September 8 of last year, 2024, special forces carried out a targeted night raid on the facility. More than 100 soldiers participated in this raid. There were also dozens of aircraft, including helicopters and other types of aircraft. The forces arrived in helicopters.”
Shaldag special forces of the Israeli air force attack a missile factory in Syria. (IDF Spokesperson Unit)
“I congratulate our heroic fighters for the bold and successful operation deep in Syria,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “This was one of the most important preventive operations we have undertaken against the efforts of the Iranian axis to arm itself to attack us; testifies to our audacity and determination to act everywhere to defend ourselves.”
Following Hamas’ devastating invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the murder of more than 1,200 people, including 40 Americans, Israel has faced multiple attacks by the Iranian regime – Hamas’s main sponsor. , Hezbollah; the Houthis; and the overthrown Bashar Assad regime in Syria.
Amit Segal, chief political analyst for Israel’s Channel 12, told Fox Information Digital: “The Israeli perspective for years was that Iran operates like an octopus in the Middle East, with the head being Tehran’s nuclear program and the weapons being the conventional terrorists. Netanyahu’s view was that the weapons were intended to harass and occupy Israel as the leader rushed toward nuclear capability, and therefore it was preferable to contain them and focus on the main threat.
IDF officials watch the operation unfold. (IDF Spokesperson Unit)
“This perception was shattered on October 7 when it became clear that guns were not just a nuisance but an existential threat.”
The complex commando attack on the Syrian underground factory could also be a shot in the bow for the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities embedded in the mountains.
“After a year and a quarter dedicated to cutting off the arms of the octopus, Israel finds itself in 2025 at a historic crossroads for the confrontation that Netanyahu has long sought and by which history will judge him: eliminating the nuclear threat once and for all. for all,” said Segal.
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Hezbollah terrorists form a human barrier during the funeral procession of slain top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in the southern suburbs of Beirut on August 1, 2024. (Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Photographs)
The IDF spokesman said construction of the Syrian missile factory “began in late 2017 and ended in 2021, when manufacturing machinery was sent from Iran to the site. Most of the factory components came from Iran.”
From October 2023 to November 2024, Hezbollah launched more than 17,000 projectiles into Israel, killing dozens of Israelis, the IDF spokesman said.
