Israel announced on Sunday that it has conducted a special ground operation in Syria “in recent months,” according to an Israeli military statement.
The IDF also says they detained an “Iranian terror network operative,” whom they identified as Ali Soleiman al-Assi, during the mission. They accused the man of gathering intelligence on IDF forces along the border and transferred him to Israel for questioning.
The IDF said al-Assi’s arrest “prevented a future attack and led to exposing the operational methods of Iranian terrorist networks in the vicinity of the Golan Heights.”
“The IDF will continue to operate to defend the sovereignty of the State of Israel and will not allow Iranian allies to operate in southern Syria and threaten Israeli civilians,” the IDF said.
Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks on targets in government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses these operations. The attacks often target Syrian forces or Iranian-backed groups.
Last month, the Israeli army launched airstrikes on western Syria, the Syrian Defense Ministry said. The ministry added that the attacks hit a military site in Hama and a car assembly plant in Hassia.
Syrian state television also reported that the strikes hit vehicles loaded with medical and relief supplies and sparked a major fire in the area.
In September, Israeli strikes hit several areas in central Syria, damaging a highway in Hama province and causing a fire, Syria’s state news agency SANA said at the time. The attack killed fourteen people and injured more than forty people.
Israel has vowed to end Iran’s entrenchment in Syria, especially as Syria is a key route for Iran to send weapons to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has clashed with Israeli forces over the past eleven months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas – an ally of Hezbollah – in Gaza.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
