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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Inside Israel's Commando Raid On Iran's Underground Missile Factory In Syria

2025-01-03

[War Zone] The Israeli Ministry of Defense has released details — and imagery — of a dramatic commando raid into Syria, which targeted an underground missile production facility, back in September. The raid, codenamed Operation Many Ways, was deemed an outstanding success, with the facility destroyed and none of the 120 Israeli special forces troops involved being injured. Until now, however, very few details of how the raid took place had emerged.

The raid was carried out on Sept. 8 by members of the Israeli Air Force (IAF), specifically its elite Shaldag unit and Unit 669. Shaldag is a clandestine outfit that specializes in long-range penetration operations, including commando-style raids. Unit 669 is tasked primarily with combat search and rescue (CSAR), a key requirement of missions carried out in or close to hostile territory.

The target of Operation Many Ways was, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say, an Iranian-run missile manufacturing site, codenamed Deep Layer by the Israeli military — part of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) network.

What the Israeli Ministry of Defense described as “precision-guided missiles” and long-range rockets were planned to be made at the facility and then supplied to Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as to the Assad regime in Syria. In terms of Iranian support for Hezbollah, Deep Layer was Iran’s “flagship project,” according to the IDF.

Operation Many Ways took place when Syria was still ruled by Bashar al-Assad and before Israel launched its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

After the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, it seems that Israel has decided that it

Long section with all the details can be read at the link, adorned by lots of photos. Interesting stuff.

can publicize details of the commando raid. This will also serve as a warning of potential further operations directed against Iran and its proxies in the region. The fact that the operation demonstrated Israeli willingness and capacity to launch such raids against deeply buried and highly defended bunkers sent a signal to Iran, which is a key takeaway we highlighted when the first mention of the special operations raid emerged. While executing a similar operation against an underground target in Iran would be far more complex and risky, this has always been a real possibility and Israel has proven itself more than capable of operating within Iran’s borders.

More recently, Netanyahu spoke of a changing order in the region, with two of Iran’s key proxies there, Hamas and Hezbollah, deeply degraded and the Assad regime eliminated, stating:

“After Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are almost the last remaining arm of Iran’s axis of evil. The Houthis are learning, and will learn the hard way, that those who strike Israel will pay a very heavy price for it.”

While disclosing details of Operation Many Ways, the IDF said it will “continue to act strategically and professionally with various methods and tactics to remove threats directed at the citizens of Israel.” This clearly includes special operations raids against very hardened underground facilities well beyond Israel’s borders.

Posted by:Besoeker

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