Israel’s continued military operations in Syria, which it said on Sunday are intended to “strengthen the defense of Israel’s citizens,” have drawn accusations from the United Nations and some member states that Israel is violating a decades-long cease-fire by sending its troops within and beyond a buffer zone between the countries.

The Israeli military confirmed on Thursday that dozens of its troops were flown into Syria in September to destroy an underground missile factory funded by Iran. Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists in an online briefing that "this precision-guided missile factory was dug in the side of a mountain underground in the area of Masyaf.

Israel has now bombed Syrian Army positions south of Aleppo. Residents reported hearing huge explosions in the area, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the strikes targeted defense and research facilities.

In a daring operation that sounds straight out of a movie. Israeli special forces targeted and destroyed an underground Iranian missile facility buried deep in the Syrian mountains—codename' Deep Layer'.