The Israeli Air Force’s elite Shaldag Unit, supported by the Air Force and Navy, executed a highly complex operation in September, targeting and destroying a precision-guided missile manufacturing facility built by Iran in the Masyaf area of western Syria.
This operation neutralised a critical Iranian-led project intended to arm Hezbollah and other terror proxies with advanced, game-changing long-range weapons. The factory was built close to the Lebanese border, indicating its intended role of helping to arm Hezbollah, Iran’s largest regional proxy and owners of a stockpile of tens of thousands of rockets.
For years, the Israeli army’s Military Intelligence Directorate monitored the underground compound, which had been constructed deep within a mountainside, according to Lt. Col. Nadav Shashani, IDF international spokesperson, who briefed journalists about the raid on Thursday.
Israeli soldiers preparing for the raid (IDF)
The facility was a key component of Iran’s strategy to arm its regional proxies, enabling the production of hundreds of precision-guided missiles annually, Shoshani said, adding that the missiles posed a severe threat to the Israeli home front.
The missile facility was fully operational for just a month before the operation. It represented the culmination of years of Iranian investment and planning. Israeli intelligence indicated that construction began in 2017 and was completed in 2021, although the advanced machinery and missile assembly lines were only installed by 2024. The factory was equipped to produce missiles with ranges of up to some 300 kilometers (186 miles), far enough to fire from Lebanon deep into the heart of Israel.
“This was a flagship project of Iran in Syria," said Shoshani. "This was one of a kind in Syria. This factory in size, in its ability, in its significance to the Iranian axis and for Hezbollah and other groups in Syria, it posed an imminent and active threat to the State of Israel."
The nighttime raid involved more than 100 Israeli special forces soldiers on the ground, supported by dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters. Naval vessels provided additional firepower and intelligence support, according to the military.
The IDF raiding the compound in Syria (IDF)
The IDF commandos landed by helicopter, encircling the compound to secure the area before entering the facility.
During the operation, soldiers dismantled critical manufacturing machinery, including a planetary mixer (a device used to mix round products) essential for missile production. They also retrieved intelligence documents, such as chemical handbooks detailing missile production processes.
These materials were transferred to the Intelligence Directorate for analysis. The compound was then destroyed, ensuring it could no longer be used to manufacture missiles.
All IDF soldiers returned safely—a testament to what the IDF has described as “meticulous planning and implementation” of the operation.
The factory’s proximity to the Syrian-Lebanese border was a major clue regarding its strategic value for Hezbollah, which has long relied on Iran for advanced weaponry. The site’s destruction delivered a severe blow to Iran’s efforts to establish missile production capabilities in Syria.
The timing of the operation was critical. In the months leading up to the strike, Hezbollah had escalated its attacks on Israel, launching hundreds of projectiles per day. Between October 2023 and November 2024, Hezbollah fired more than 17,000 projectiles, killing dozens of Israelis. Some of these were precision-guided missiles, and Hezbollah had hoped to receive even more powerful missiles from the Masyaf facility.
Damage caused to Israeli homes by Hezbollah rockets (Getty)
According to an IDF infographic, the Masyaf factory was intending to produce surface-to-surface ballistic missiles such as the M220, with a range of 70 kilometers (44 miles); the M302, formerly a rocket converted into a precise missile with a 130-kilometer (81-mile) range; the M600F, also known as a Fateh 110 missile, which had a range of 250-300 kilometers (155-186 miles) and can be fired from a stationary launcher or a truck; and M122 short-range 40-kilometer (25-mile) missiles, which can also be fired from a truck.
The raid is part of Israel’s broader campaign against Iranian weapons smuggling and production in Syria into Lebanon.
“This operation was a statement to the fact that we will not allow Hezbollah or any other terror organization on our borders to have these strategic weapons that can harm and kill our civilians,” said Shoshani.
The underground nature of the Masyaf facility required a ground operation rather than an aerial strike, as aerial attacks on their own were deemed insufficient against such hardened targets.
In recent years and up until a few months ago, Syria was "very comfortable for the Iranian regime to operate in," said Shoshani.
Looking ahead, he said, despite the fall of the pro-Iranian Assad regime, "we are already on the look out to make sure that they [the Iranians] are not getting back to it [Syria] and make sure that the routes between Syria and Lebanon remain ineffective."
This vigilance, he said, is based on the understanding that Iran "will look for new ways to challenge us in the future."
