Israel's Commando Strike on a 'Bombproof' Missile Factory Tells Tehran, 'You Can Run but You Can't Hide'

A daring Israeli commando raid deep into Bashar Assad's Syria in early September not only destroyed an Iranian factory producing missiles for Hezbollah to shoot into Israel, it may have been a test of a concept that puts all of Iran's nuclear facilities at risk.

On the night of September 8-9, a 120-man unit of elite Israeli Air Force Shaldag commandos in CH-53 attacked the underground factory in the Masyaf area of Syria, west of Hama, using a combination of landing and fast roping.

 The site lies more than 125 miles north of the Israeli border and some 30 miles from Syria’s western coastline. The CH-53s flew in from the Mediterranean to evade Syria's air defense system; as the CH-53 has a range of about 430 miles, aerial refueling was required. The video is a 3-D model of the target site and gives perspective to the scope of the mission and the difficulties accomplishing it.

Because the last Iranian missile factory in Syria was smashed flat by an Israeli airstrike in 2017, the Iranians built this one to be bombproof.

The destruction of that site, as well as other IDF strikes in Syria targeting weapon shipments to Hezbollah, led Iran to rethink its strategy, according to the military, and to establish a new underground facility that would be safe from Israeli strikes.

The site that Iran constructed was 70-130 meters (230-430 foot) underground and thus virtually impossible to destroy from the air.

Iranian digging into the mountain at the research center began in late 2017. The IDF said it had intelligence on the facility from the moment construction began.

...

The facility was built in the shape of a horseshoe, with one entrance on the side of the mountain for raw materials and an exit nearby for the completed missiles. A third entrance adjacent to those two was used for logistics and to reach offices inside the facility. The office section also connected to the manufacturing section inside.

Along the horseshoe were at least 16 rooms housing the production line for the missiles, from planetary mixers for the rocket fuel to missile body construction and paint rooms.

The facility was not yet completely active when Israel launched its operation against it, but according to the military, it was at the final stages of being declared operational by Iran. At least two missiles had been successfully manufactured as part of testing, and rocket engines were already being mass produced.

The raid was reported at the time in Syrian opposition media and picked up by some Western outlets, but the details were only revealed this week.

Reports of a Sunday night attack began to emerge earlier in the week, including one by Syria TV, an opposition news site, which said that Israeli forces landed by slipping down ropes from hovering helicopters.

Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute think tank, who has closely monitored developments at the site based on people in Syria and abroad and local news reports, said the Israeli raid was directed at a factory inside a mountain that develops missiles and rockets. 

That facility, he said, is controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, and is part of a larger military complex that is managed by Assad’s regime in Syria.  

Israel has accused Iran of using a scientific research center in military sites near Masyaf to develop weapons and missiles intended for its aligned regional militias, including Hezbollah, analysts say.

The Israelis also revealed a surprising level of tactics, techniques, and procedures that were either a blunder or calculated to send a message.

The first of the CH-53 “Yasur” helicopters landed close to the entrance, dropping off several Shaldag commandos, while another two choppers simultaneously landed at another position in the area overlooking the science center. The fourth helicopter waited behind for several minutes before landing where the first one had, dropping off additional troops.

The four helicopters then flew away to other positions in the area, where they landed and waited for over two hours for the 100 commandos to carry out their mission.

The 20 Unit 669 members, still on board the choppers, were to spring into action if any of the commandos were wounded. The plan was to treat any wounded soldiers, but not to leave until the end of the mission. Therefore, Unit 669 brought along additional medical equipment to act as a makeshift hospital in the event of an injury.

At the facility, a first team of commandos began to secure the area while a second team advanced toward the entrance, killing two guards. Another team set up on a nearby hill, from which they flew a small drone to observe the raid and eliminate anyone approaching the facility.

...

One of the central challenges of the mission was getting through the heavy duty doors at the entrance to the underground site. According to officers who participated in the planning and the mission itself, this was no easy task.

At the mission’s 50-minute mark, the first team of commandos managed to break through one of the entrances — the one used for logistics and to reach the offices. The soldiers entered the site and reached the two production entrances — the horseshoe — opening them using forklifts that were inside the facility. The IDF had known in advance that the facility had such equipment, and had sent some of the commandos participating in the raid to get forklift certification.

At the same time, another team of commandos carrying explosives arrived at the entrances. The troops had brought a quad bike with them in one of the choppers to enable them to quickly move to and through the facility to plant the explosives.

Some 50 commandos then moved along the facility’s production line, attaching bombs to all of the equipment, and especially the three planetary mixers. The other 50 waited outside and continued to keep the area clear by scanning the area and firing at threats.

At the same time, fighter jets continued to pound the surrounding region to prevent dozens of people identified on the ground — apparently Syrian soldiers — from approaching. In all, 49 munitions were used by IAF aircraft during the raid.

After the commandos had rigged up all the explosives — around 300 kilograms’ (660 pounds’) worth — to a remote detonator planted at the entrance to the site, all 100 evacuated to the initial landing site. The helicopters flew in from their waiting positions, picking up the soldiers after two and a half hours on the ground.

So why the big media rollout on a raid that happened three months ago? I think the first reason is to impress the locals with Israeli military capabilities. This media event, in addition to the happenings on the ground, goes a long way toward undoing any damage to the psychological dominance Israel has established over its enemies since 1948 by the October 7, 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians. The second reason is to send a message to the Iranians that you can't dig a facility deep enough to get away from the IDF if they want you. 

The attack at Masyaf looked a lot like a rehearsal for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. In the aftermath of the rout of Assad's forces and the fall of the Ba'athist regime, Israel carried out a punishing campaign of air attacks on Syrian radar, fighter bases, and air defense sites. So much so that it is fair to say that Syria is incapable of knowing who is using its airspace, much less contesting that usage; see Israel Bombs Syria's Military Capability and Infrastructure Flat to Send a Message to Iran.

While Operation EAGLE CLAW, the attempted rescue of US hostages held by Iran in April 1980, was a humiliation of American arms, the same basic plan is imminently viable to take out Iran's nuclear weapons research and production facilities. The destruction of Syrian air defenses and early warning systems means a relatively large Israeli force could seize a foothold within helicopter range of the target area and, under the cover of airstrikes, penetrate Iranian nuclear facilities and destroy them.

And we can never ignore that third possible reason. Given the obvious inferences from the Masyaf raid, the Iranians may very well react by reinforcing their nuclear facilities and, in the process, reveal nuclear sites that were previously unknown.