Israel confirms commandos raided Iran missile factory deep in Syria 4 months ago
In ‘Operation Deep Layer,’ IAF special forces rappeled from helicopters, killed guards at entrance to scientific center in Masyaf, raided underground site, set explosives, took documents
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Israel on Wednesday took responsibility for a commando raid against an Iranian missile manufacturing site deep in Syria in September, an operation already widely attributed to the Israel Defense Forces.
The revelation of the raid, dubbed internally by the military “Operation Deep Layer,” came weeks after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, which was closely aligned with Iran. Assad had allowed Iran to use Syria to manufacture and deliver weapons to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.
Members of the Israeli Air Force’s elite Shaldag unit raided the Scientific Studies and Research Center, known as CERS or SSRC, in the Masyaf area on September 8, to demolish an underground facility used by Iranian forces to manufacture precision missiles for Hezbollah.
The site lies more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Israel, though only about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Syria’s western coastline.
The IDF had been monitoring the site for more than five years, targeting its facilities numerous times, although it identified that the airstrikes were not sufficient to target some of the underground infrastructure established by the Iranians at CERS.
During the September 8 raid, IAF commandos reportedly rappelled down from helicopters and raided CERS, killing the few guards standing at the entrance to the site, before heading deep underground to the missile manufacturing facility.
The troops laid explosives inside the underground facility, before removing intelligence materials and documents and escaping unscathed.
The forces detonated remotely the underground site, along with the equipment inside used by Iran to manufacture missiles for Hezbollah.
According to some Israeli defense officials, the soldiers were on the ground for just over an hour.
As the helicopters were flying to the facility and during the raid, Israeli aircraft struck numerous targets in the surrounding area, including roads to the facility, reportedly killing at least 14 people and wounding 43.
The strikes were intended to both mask the approach of the helicopters and the ground operation, as well as prevent anyone from reaching the facility.
Israel had informed the US before the operation was slated to take place, and was not met with any resistance from the White House.
The details of the operation were first reported days after the raid by Middle East researcher Eva J. Koulouriotis, citing an unidentified security source. Later, the Axios news site and The New York Times published much of the same details, citing American and Western officials familiar with the operation.
The Masyaf area, west of Hama, was used as a base for Iranian forces and pro-Iranian militias and was repeatedly targeted by Israel in recent years. With the fall of the Assad regime in early December, Iranian forces withdrew from the site and Syria.
Western officials previously associated CERS with the manufacture of chemical arms. According to the United States, sarin gas was developed at the center, a charge denied by Assad regime authorities.
Israel has been carrying out airstrikes inside Syria since the outbreak of that country’s civil war in 2011, mainly targeting attempts to transfer weapons to Hezbollah or to keep Iranian fighters themselves from gaining a foothold near Israel’s border.
Following the fall of the Assad regime, the IAF carried out a major 48-hour bombing campaign in Syria, destroying most of the former regime’s military capabilities, in an effort to prevent advanced weaponry from falling into the hands of hostile elements.
Israel feared that the former Syrian army’s weapons could fall into the hands of hostile forces in the country, as well as the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
