Israeli helicopter raid in Syria

A Syrian NGO reported on Friday that the Israeli military conducted a helicopter operation in Syria to destroy an underground missile production site built under Iranian supervision, an event also reported by American media outlets.

The Syrian authorities had previously claimed that Israeli strikes targeted "military sites" in the Mesyaf region (central Syria) on September 8, resulting in 18 deaths.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the helicopter assault targeted the Hair Abbas site, a precision missile production and development facility created and supervised by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). 

"Helicopters dropped dozens of Israeli soldiers who were able to enter the weapons production site and destroy it," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the UK-based NGO, which has a wide network of sources in Syria.

The helicopter assault was preceded by a series of intensive strikes that also destroyed the "Mesyaf Scientific Research Center," a facility involved in weapons development and staffed by Iranian experts, according to the SOHR.

Fighter jets and drones participated in the operation, which lasted more than three hours, and the SOHR reported a total of 27 deaths.

The American news outlet Axios also reported, citing "three sources familiar with the operation," that an "elite Israeli forces unit led the raid" against the site, which "was built, according to the U.S. and Israel, by Iran." 

The destruction of the missile production facility "appears to be a significant blow to Iran and Hezbollah's efforts to produce medium-range precision missiles on Syrian soil," Axios added.

The site was reportedly constructed "under the mountain in Mesyaf to be inaccessible to Israeli strikes."

The New York Times also reported that "Israel conducted a commando operation (...) that destroyed a Hezbollah missile production site," citing U.S. and Western officials.

"The operation included a daring helicopter raid by Israeli special forces (...) who allegedly seized equipment" on site, the American newspaper added.