Israel said to find new Iranian precision-missile factory in northwest Syria

Iran has been constructing a new missile factory in Syria after Israel bombed and destroyed a previous one, Channel 12 news reports this evening.

The report says the new factory was recently built near the northwestern city of Safita — in hopes that Israel wouldn’t discover it in that location, far from previous Iranian sites struck by Israel elsewhere in Syria.

The factory is going to focus on producing precision missiles, dramatically upgrading the threat to Israel from the vast arsenal of rockets and missiles deployed against it in southern Lebanon by Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah. To build it, Channel 12 says, Iran had to bypass international sanctions on parts for its missile program via a series of straw companies.

Israel has nevertheless discovered, tracked and uncovered the facility, the network says, as part of its effort to thwart Iran’s military entrenchment in Syria.