On Sept. 8, a Syrian government factory for producing precision missiles came under aerial attack. The target is close to the village of Masyaf, in western Syria. The foreign press attributed the airstrike to the Israeli air force, but Israel has not accepted responsibility and has not responded. On the heels of the assault, and given that on almost the same day a huge Israeli military exercise began in the north, the next few days were tense. The tensions relate to sensitive equations formulated among Israel, Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, assorted rebel movements and Russia.

Israel has maintained radio silence about the attack and hopes that the Syrian regime will keep mum as well, as it did in September 2007, when unidentified jets destroyed Syria's nuclear reactor in the middle of the night. (Israel never owned up to that attack either). This time, the even more important question is how the Russian government will react. Will it — for the first time since establishing a military presence in the region — raise a yellow card, warning against Israeli attacks on Syrian territory?

The Sept. 8 attack took place 10 years and a day after the 2007 airstrike on the nuclear facility in Deir ez-Zor. Satellite photos made public a few days after the recent airstrike showed that the missiles fired by the unidentified planes had been precise: Only three of the plant’s buildings showed damage, and only in certain parts of the buildings. In other words, the attack was a surgical strike. The assessment is that the attacking force had qualitative and remarkably precise intelligence. In their crosshairs were only those sections of the facility that produced the kits that turn standard missiles into precision missiles.

Israel views Iran's efforts to provide Syria and Hezbollah with the technology to produce precision missiles as a clear strategic danger. Were the efforts successful, in the next conflict, it would allow Israel’s enemies to hamper the Israeli air force's ability to effectively strike strategic targets. It is altogether possible that in the early hours of Sept. 8, what took place is one round in Israel's struggle against the Iranian “precision project” in Syria and Lebanon.