IDF's Shaldag blowing up Syrian weapons facility 'was one of boldest ops'
A security official told i24NEWS that the operation targeted a strategic facility used by Iranians – 'We have never done anything like this before, he said
A security official confirmed to i24NEWS on Wednesday that elite Israeli Shaldag soldiers blew up a strategic weapons facility in the heart of Syria in September.
The operation began as the Israel Air Force's elite fighters, Shaldag, entered the facility under the guise of air strikes, which serves as a research center for the late Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's army – with the official calling it "one of the boldest operations" ever carried out by the IDF. "We have never done anything like this before."
The IDF command believed the facility was used by Iranian agents to develop strategic weapons, which Israel was intent on preventing from reaching the hands of the Syrian regime.
The facility was attacked several times from the air before the operation, but security establishment understood ground forces needed to be sent to operate in the area. Before the forces stormed the facility, air strikes were carried out to distract the Syrians, all the while Shaldag fighters arrived at the facility, eliminated armed security there, installed the explosives, and blew up the complex on their way out.