The mission, code-named “Operation Many Ways,” was executed on September 8 2024.
New Delhi: The Israeli Air Force (IAF) on Thursday declassified the details of a high-stakes operation in which 120 Israeli commandos raided and destroyed an alleged underground Iran-funded missile manufacturing facility in Syria. The mission, code-named “Operation Many Ways,” was executed on September 8 2024.
The facility, reportedly dubbed “Deep Layer,” is said to have been located near the Masyaf area in western Syria. The region has been described as a stronghold of Syrian air defences.
Israeli officials said the site was the flagship project of Iran’s missile production program, designed to arm Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Assad regime in Syria with precision missiles. The officials say the operation was carried out without any injury to the Israeli forces.
The IAF reports that Iran started building the Deep Layer facility in late 2017. This was after an earlier Israeli airstrike had hit an aboveground rocket engine manufacturing site at the Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS) in Jamraya, southern Syria.
After the airstrike, Iran moved its operations underground to prevent further airstrikes from damaging its missile production capabilities. By 2021, the underground facility, buried 70 to 130 meters into a mountain, had become operational, with missile production capabilities nearing full scale.
The U-curve-shaped construction had three large entrances: the first for materials, the second for finished missiles, and a third for general logistics and offices. Across the facility were sixteen production rooms, ranging from rocket-fuel mixers to missile bodies and paint shops.
The Israeli Defense Forces have estimated that a yearly production could range between 100 and 300 missiles, with a range of some 300 km.
