Amid silence and inaction by Russian and regime forces regarding the largest Israeli violation of Syria’s sovereignty | Israeli forces carry out airdrop in Masyaf with series of violent airstrikes
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has obtained confirmed and exclusive information about the latest Israeli airdrop in Masyaf from seven reliable sources, including civilians and combatants who engaged in clashes with Israeli troops, while attempting to counter the operation which was carried out in Masyaf area in Hama countryside on September 9.
The accurate and compound operation targeted a site known as “Heer Abbas” which contains a factory for manufacturing and developing medium-range missiles. The factory had been constructed and supervised by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to SOHR sources, nearly five helicopters participated in the airdrop, where they flew at low altitude with the helicopter heading the squadron being provided with a projector with very high light.
Also, several drones and fighter jets participated in the operation, where regime air-defences managed to shoot down a drone in the airspace of Banyas on the Syrian coastline.
Shortly before the airdrop, Israeli forces carried out a series of intensive airstrikes, targeting vital sites in the region, and they used electronic warfare jamming systems which paved the way for the airdrop of the helicopters which carried tens of soldiers of Israeli special forces.
Violent clashes lasted for over three hours between the Israeli soldiers who participated in the airdrop on one hand, and combatants and civilians on the other, where sources in surrounding areas clearly heard gunfire.
The Israeli soldiers managed to storm the factory and blew it up.
SOHR sources have not verified yet if Israeli forces took important and secret documents from “Heer Abbas” site or not, especially since the site was besieged by Israeli forces, before detonating the factory. However, SOHR sources have confirmed that no Iranian-backed militias were captured during the Israeli operation.
On the other hand, Israeli aircraft attacked the headquarters of the military intelligence service and several other posts established earlier for guarding the factory, as well as attacking every vehicle heading towards the site, even civilian motorcycles.
Moreover, drones cut off all roads leading to the site, where they attacked an earth-moving machinery (a bulldozer), while attempting to open the road following the first round of airstrikes, which resulted in the complete distraction of the bulldozer and the death of the driver whose body charred and was retrieved from the site of the attack in the morning of the following day.
SOHR had reported, on many occasions and reports published in 2019 and 2020, about confirmed information regarding constructing factories for manufacturing and developing medium-range and short-range missiles by Iran since 2018, and confirmed that those factories were supervised by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps with participation of the Lebanese Hezbollah and in cooperation with Syrian officers.
SOHR had also confirmed that those factories, the most prominent of which was “Heer Abbase” factory in Masyaf, started recently to develop drones, which spurred Israeli forces to concentrate their attacks on this strategic site and carry out the latest airdrop to blow it up.
According to SOHR sources, the Israeli airstrikes and airdrop in Masyaf area on September 9 left 27 people dead and at least 32 others injured, where some of the bodies were dismembered, while others were charred.
The fatalities are distributed as follows:
- Six civilians.
- Four members of regime forces.
- 14 Syrians working for Iranian-backed militias, including five members of the Syrian Hezbollah.
- Three unidentified persons.
The Israeli airstrikes targeted several vital sites, including the scientific research center in Masyaf city, a site on Masyaf-Wadi Al-Ouyun road, a site in the Heer Abbas area in Masyaf city, two sites in Al-Rawi village, air-defence factories to the south-west of Masyaf city near Al-Bayda village and several warehouses.
SOHR would like to point out that it obtained preliminary information, on the day of the Israeli airdrop, about the airdrop and about flights by helicopters over Masyaf, but we were unable to verify this information or obtain further details about the airdrop, because of the complicated and strict security measures in the region, especially since sources chose to keep silent in the beginning of the operation, fearing arrests by regime forces.
Speaking to SOHR, a regime officer working in an air-defence battalion, who has confirmed the most of details mentioned in this report, said that he was unable to verify the participation of US aircraft in the operation.