On 8 September at 11 in the evening, Syrian Air Defence crews were readying themselves to look at their radar screens, as Israeli planes are usually active at this time.

Syria’s Buk and Pantsir missile-defence systems were ready and waiting for them, but they did not know that they would soon be facing a challenging Israeli missile attack. Some ten minutes later, Israeli aircrafts appeared from the direction of the sea and the south of the country on their radar screens, and a battle began, with the Israelis using missiles and suicide drones to attack targets in Syria.

They were met with determination by the Syrian crews, who repelled as many missiles and drones as possible. Eventually, the Israeli aircraft retreated back towards Israel. Five military locations in Syria suffered damage in the attacks.

Fifteen Syrian military sites were targeted, including Hama and Wadi Al-Ayun, and the strikes were concentrated in the Masyaf area and Sheikh Ghadban. Israel carried out a raid by Special Forces on a military site on the Masyaf-Wadi Al-Ayun Road, where the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) is located.

The Syrian military uses these facilities to manufacture and develop missiles and drones and improve their accuracy and capabilities. They are subjected to Israeli air strikes on a regular basis, forcing the Syrian leadership to establish the SSRC in a mountainous area to avoid air strikes, but with it still being vulnerable to attacks by Special Forces.

According to the Israeli website Axios, the Iranians began building the underground SSRC facility in coordination with Hizbullah and Syria in 2018 after a series of Israeli airstrikes that destroyed most of the Iranian missile-production infrastructure in Syria.

Israeli intelligence services discovered the building and monitored it for more than five years in an operation codenamed Deep Layer. The Israelis realised they would not be able to destroy the facility with an airstrike and would need a ground operation to do so, a source said.

According to Israeli sources, Unit 5101, also known as Shaldag or Kingfisher, was chosen. This is a commando unit specialising in long-range raids, having participated in both the first and second Israeli wars against Syria and Hizbullah. The unit was successful in carrying out the mission, even capturing some Iranian officers and bringing them to Israel.

Two sources told Axios that “Israel briefed the Biden administration in advance of the sensitive operation, and the US didn’t oppose it. The Israeli Special Unit surprised the Syrian guards at the facility and killed several of them during the raid, but no Iranians or Hizbullah militants were hurt.”

The Special Forces used explosives they brought with them in order to blow up the underground facility, the sources said.

According to reports, Israeli forces trained for five years in order to carry out this complex operation, which included several stages, starting with intelligence reconnaissance of the Syrian Air Defences and then the carrying out of intensive electronic jamming and the launch of missiles attacks.

The attacks were carried out in three stages from the west and south using Delilah missiles and Harop suicide drones, taking advantage of poor radar coverage due to the destruction of many radar installations by rebels during the Syrian Civil War.

The Israeli targeting also included Syrian Air Defence sites. The road leading to the target area was destroyed in both directions, hindering Syrian support for the defensive forces inside the facility.

To better understand the operation, Al-Ahram Weekly asked Mike Mihajlovic, an expert in air defence systems and a former air defence operator, to explain what was involved.

“I would call this a classic Israeli Special Forces operation. It was well planned and executed. The air attacks using Delilah cruise missiles and Harop drones executed without entering Syrian airspace had two goals: first to engage Syrian Air Defences, having calculated that probably 60 to 70 per cent of the attack weapons would be downed. Second, once the air defence was activated and the location pinpointed, the second wave would follow targeting the unit’s equipment.”

“For this, a multilayered attack from different directions would be optimal,” he said.

A few minutes before the attacks, a formation of one CH-53 helicopter protected by two Apaches approached from the sea at ultra-low altitude. People heard the sound of the helicopters in the Tartous area, and the Israeli commandos descended by ropes while apaches destroyed any vehicles approaching the site.

“The Syrian Air Defences are getting better, and they were able to lock onto the incoming missiles and drones and engage with them. But in the meantime, Israeli commandos sneaked below the radar cover and executed their mission. The Syrian ground defences failed or were never present at the location,” Mihajlovic said.

“The ultimate goal for Israel is to curtail Iran, but for that it will need the help of the US. The story will continue.”

This daring and risky Israeli operation in Syria raises many questions, the most important of which is the timing, as it may indicate an attempt by the Israeli political leadership to escalate the conflict with Iran after the possibility of more alleged Iranian attacks has decreased, leading to the withdrawal of a US aircraft carrier from the region after the launch of an ineffective missile strike by Hizbullah.

Israel is also attempting to demonstrate its ability to destroy sensitive targets and protected underground facilities, such as those operated by Hizbullah, which relies largely on mountain sites and underground tunnels, and Iranian nuclear facilities and missile sites.

Bearing in mind the presence of Russian forces in the area of Tartous and of advanced air defence systems such as the S-300VM and the S-400 at the Khmeimim Airbase, it is perhaps surprising that the Russians did not react to the Israeli missile attacks. The Russian forces also have advanced long-range radar and Su-35 aircrafts in the area.

There may be a Russian-Israeli understanding on Israeli attacks on Syria, and it may be that Israel has the freedom to target Iran, otherwise meant to be Russia’s ally during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The Iranians condemned the Israeli attacks, describing them as “criminal,” but it did not threaten to escalate the situation, imitating the Houthis in Yemen, who returned to the scene last Sunday by launching a missile at central Israel.

Despite the Israeli defences’ inability to intercept it, the missile did not hit any targets or inflict any damage. However, its success in penetrating them may provide insight into the effectiveness of hypersonic missiles, as well as Iranian/Houthi guidance systems.

Israel threatened to respond to the Houthi attack, and on the same day it dropped warnings telling residents of Southern Lebanon to migrate to the north, bringing back memories of similar warnings dropped on Gaza after 7 October last year before the Israeli bombardment of the territory.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 19 September, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly