Report: Israel used cyberwar against Syria

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- The Israeli military used cyberwar techniques to help blind Syrian air defenses prior to its strike on an alleged nuclear facility at Dayr az-Zawr.

The magazine Aviation Week recently reported that the main attack by the Israeli Defense Forces was preceded by an engagement with a single Syrian radar site at Tall al-Abuad near the Turkish border.

The radar station "was assaulted with what appears to be a combination of electronic attack and precision bombs," causing the whole Syrian air defense radar system to go offline "for a period of time that included the raid," the magazine reported, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence and Israeli military sources.

The sources said the Israeli attack "involved both remote air-to-ground electronic attack and penetration through computer-to-computer links."

The magazine's sources said the attack included some traditional electronic countermeasures, like "brute-force jamming," which can still be effective in attacking air defenses. The attack was also aided by the fact that "Syrian air defenses are still centralized and dependent on dedicated HF and VHF communications, which made them vulnerable."

The magazine said U.S. analysts do not believe Syria's electrical grid was attacked.

"There also were some higher-level, non-tactical penetrations, either direct or as diversions and spoofs, of the Syrian command-and-control capability, done through network attack," the magazine reported one intelligence specialist as saying.

"These observations provide evidence that a sophisticated network attack and electronic hacking capability is an operational part of the Israel Defense Forces' arsenal of digital weapons," Aviation Week concluded.