The Sunday night major Israeli airstrikes in the central Syrian town of Masyaf which we reported on earlier in the week might have involved much more than what was initially known. There was an unusually high death toll for such an attack, which targeted a highly secretive Syrian government facility known as the Syrian Military Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC). It left at least 16 people killed and another 40 injured. But now both Axios and Israeli media are reporting it involved a ground component. “During major attack by jets earlier this week, IDF commandos said to have rappelled from helicopters to capture Iranians and remove materials before destroying site,” Times of Israel writes. However, other reports make no mention of captured Iranians. The Thursday Axios report says the Sunday night Israeli operation in central Syria really involved the following: “An elite Israel Defense Forces unit conducted a highly unusual raid in Syria earlier this week and destroyed an underground precision missile factory that Israel and the U.S. claim was built by Iran, according to three sources briefed on the operation.” It was reported at the time that significant portions of the surrounding countryside caught on fire. Axios further […]