Israel launched airstrikes on an Iranian Qods Force facility in Syria on 24 August to thwart an armed drone attack that was planned against targets in northern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The IDF released a satellite image of the compound targeted in the 24 August airstrike. The compound is close to Aqrabah, a village north of Damascus International Airport. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told journalists on the following day that the IDF had been monitoring the team from Iran’s Qods Force for several weeks as it flew from Iran to Damascus International Airport carrying components for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that they intended to use for attacks on Israel.
The IDF subsequently released the names of two Lebanese Shia men it said were members of the team, as well as photographs of them boarding an Iranian Mahan Air flight, purportedly to receive UAV training in Iran.
The Lebanese group Hizbullah identified the same men as members of its armed wing when it held their funerals on 26 August.
Having landed in Syria, the team headed to a Qods Force facility in the village of Aqrabah, southeast of the capital, where they were joined by other operatives, Lt Col Conricus said. He added that their UAVs had similar capabilities as those used by Iran and its allies elsewhere in the Middle East, giving as examples ones used in attacks launched from Yemen at Saudi targets. Each could carry several kilogrammes of explosives and they were designed to detonate after crashing into their targets.
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