Military and strategic expert Brigadier General Elias Hanna described the military operation carried out by the Israeli occupation army against an Iranian facility in Syria as complex, but at the same time stressed that it was not a turning point in the current conflict.
Hanna told Al Jazeera that the targeted site had been bombed from the air several times before, but this time a complex operation was carried out, starting with reconnaissance, through the preparation of special forces and the use of helicopters, to the bombing and airdrops.
He stressed that the operation is considered a qualitative leap into the depths of Syria, since the targeted site is located between 40 and 50 kilometers from Russian installations and bases.
Regarding Israel’s messages from the operation, the strategic expert believes that they are embodied in the ability to access Hezbollah’s logistics system in Syria and its precise missiles.
The destruction of the targeted site also signifies “Israel’s ability to conduct similar special operations in Syria and Lebanon,” according to Hanna, in addition to Israel’s ability to collect information and documents and interrogate people.
He added: “All this gives him precise information about the Iranian system, how to manufacture weapons, how to introduce them into Lebanon, as well as their types.”
The military expert explains that the level of risk and failure of such operations is very high, stressing that their success – if the information is true – depends on Israel’s ability to plan, collect intelligence information, determine the forces that will intervene and reach the targeted area.
He concluded that the operation could be implemented at some point, especially in light of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, as it took place deep inside Syria, stressing at the same time the need to wait and ensure the success or failure of the operation.
Process details
Israeli commando forces infiltrated and destroyed an Iranian Revolutionary Guards security center in Syria, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, in an Israeli attack that killed 16 people and wounded more than 40 others last Monday, and was described as the most violent in Syria in years.
The newspaper reported that Israeli commando forces seized the devices from an Iranian Revolutionary Guard facility near Masyaf in the Hama countryside in western Syria before withdrawing.
In turn, the New York Times quoted U.S. officials as saying that “Israel carried out a commando operation in Syria in which it destroyed a facility producing precision-guided missiles for Hezbollah,” and that the operation included a daring raid by Israeli forces that transported precision-guided missiles for Hezbollah to a landing stage in which they seized materials from the facility.
The officials explained that the operation included airstrikes on the scientific research center near the Syrian city of Masyaf and stressed that the use of ground forces was necessary to collect information about the secret site, and that there were no casualties among the soldiers.
In the same context, the American site Axios cited sources claiming that an elite unit of the Israeli army had destroyed a secret factory of precision missiles that Iran had built during a raid in Syria this week.
The sources explained that the Israeli attack on the missile factory included a ground operation, the first against Iranian targets in Syria. They also revealed that the Israeli unit killed Syrian guards in the missile factory, while no Iranians or Hezbollah militants were injured.
The sources stressed that the Israeli raid on the missile factory in Syria was aimed at preventing the sending of reinforcements to the region.
In turn, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards denied the presence of Iranian forces in Masyaf, considering that “the allegations about the injuries and capture of our forces are completely false.”