Local Editor

"Israel's" naval commando "unit Flotilla 13" had planted spying equipment on a tiny island opposite the Syrian port city of Tartus, close to a Russian naval base, the UK's Sunday Times newspaper reported on Sunday.

 According to the paper, three large "Israeli" espionage devices have been found in fake rocks that were tactically placed in Syria's coastal region censoring Russian fleet. Detected by fishermen on the strategic ‘Ant Island' located opposite Syria's Tartus Port, these special devices were installed to scan Russian nautical fleet movement in the region, said the report.

"Israeli" commandos launched a daring raid into Syrian territory to plant sophisticated camera equipment that looked exactly like the indigenous rocks.
Syria's state-run news agency, SANA reported the gadgets were designed to capture, register and instantly transmit data about Russian warship to "Israel" via satellite.
 Syria's state-run television showed a camera, a satellite dish and other objects including batteries and cables secreted among several imitation rocks.
The commando sneaked onto the island on silent skiffs and extracted the stones to replicate for the spy camera. According to the British newspaper, divers (frogmen) from "Israel" Forces naval commando division, installed the device in the rocks and traversed the island from one of the country's German-built Dolphin class submarines, which are armed with nuclear cruise missiles.

  The report speculates that the commandos had visited the island at least twice, once to obtain terrain samples for the manufacture of the fake rocks and a second time to plant the equipment. Installing the gear, concealing it and making sure it was operational could take several hours, the report said.
A senior Syrian security official said the device was complex, while it could also track Syrian troop activities in the region. However, it remains unknown how long the monitoring station operated before it was uncovered.