Israel 'destroys Iranian missile factory in Syria' with special forces ground attack
Israeli special forces last week destroyed an underground missile factory in Syria used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), it has been reported.
The “special operation” in the city of Masyaf on Sunday was the first ground attack Israel has carried out against an Iranian target in Syria for several years.
Sayeret Matkal, an elite Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit, destroyed the facility with help from the Israeli air force, three people briefed on the operation told Axios. They said the IRGC was developing ballistic missiles there for Hezbollah.
The sources claimed the Iranian plan was to produce precision missiles close to the Lebanese border, so that they could be delivered to Hezbollah quickly and with less risk of Israeli air strikes.
Israeli intelligence allegedly discovered the building, built deep inside the mountain in Masyaf, in 2018 and monitored it under the codename “deep layer”.
The attack, for which Israel has not claimed responsibility, involved heavy air strikes prior to a ground raid that Syria claimed killed at least 16.
According to the Axios report, the Israeli unit killed several Syrian guards before using explosive devices to blow up the underground facility, which included sophisticated machinery.
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Israel briefed the White House before the mission, which did not oppose it, the sources said.
Israel has carried out numerous air strikes in Syria since its civil war began, largely targeting weapons convoys and military facilities belonging to Iran and Hezbollah.
Air strike kills UN aid workers
Earlier, the head of the United Nations lashed out at Israel following a deadly air strike that reportedly killed 18, including six UN aid workers.
UNRWA, the UN agency that works with Palestinian refugees, called it “the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident”. At least 44 other people are said to have been injured.
Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, strongly condemned the strike which flattened a former school in Nuseirat in central Gaza, calling it “totally unacceptable”.
“These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now,” Mr Guterres said, adding that 12,000 people were sheltering in the al-Jaouni school buildings.
Josep Borrell, the top EU diplomat, said he was “outraged” by the bombing and the US called on Israel to protect humanitarian sites.
International condemnation
Israel has been condemned by the international community for the high death toll among aid workers during the war, with nearly 300 killed, according to the UN. UNRWA says the al-Jaouni compound has been targeted five times.
Survivors of the strike described scrambling over “shredded limbs” as they tried to retrieve bodies and belongings from the rubble. “I can hardly stand up,” a man holding a plastic bag of human remains told AFP.
The IDF said that it had carried out “precise strikes on terrorists” who were operating inside a “command and control” centre embedded within the building, which has not been used as a school since October.
Nadav Shoshani, an IDF spokesman, said the Israeli army had requested that UNRWA provide details and names of the killed workers, in order to “thoroughly review the claim”.
“To date, no answers have been provided by UNRWA despite repeated requests,” Mr Shoshani said. In response, UNRWA spokesman Juliette Touma said the agency was “not aware of any such requests”.
The IDF later published the names of nine Hamas members it said had been killed in the strike, three of whom Israel claimed also worked for UNRWA: Muhammad Adnan Abu Zayd, Yasser Ibrahim Abu Sharar and Ayad Matar.
A colleague of the killed UN workers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the group had just sat down to lunch when Israel bombed the school.
“Suddenly, I heard a big explosion. Everything shook. I ran back to see that they had all vanished… all torn to pieces,” she told CNN.
She said that all six had worked as teachers at the school before the war. “They are all loved by everyone. They helped and provided aid to everyone,” she added.
Earlier this year, nine UNRWA workers were fired after the agency reviewed Israeli evidence of their participation in the Oct 7 massacre.
The agency has also come under fire in recent years for its schoolbooks, which contain anti-Semitism and glorification of terror and jihad.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, meanwhile took aim at Hamas, saying the terror group was trying to “conceal the fact that it continues to oppose a deal to release the hostages, and is foiling it”.
