Iranian proxies operating out of Syria planned multiple drone attacks, orchestrated by Iran's Quds Force, says senior IDF intel official.

Israel's military intelligence chief said Sunday afternoon that the IDF had thwarted a drone attack by Iranian proxies on Israel, thanks to a "substantial intelligence effort", adding that the attack was to have involved multiple “killer drones”.

"Tonight, thanks to a substantial intelligence effort, an Iranian attack was thwarted and harm to Israel was prevented," said the Head of the Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Tamir Heyman, Sunday afternoon.

"Iran's proxies attempted in the past few days to launch killer drones at Israeli territory. An intelligence effort exposed the preparations of the force lead by Soleimani, in an Iranian structure near Damascus and made possible the thwarting of the attack. The Quds Force is continuing its efforts to destabilize the region. We are continuing our effort to stop the Quds Force’s attempts to harm Israel and her citizens.”

Heyman also noted that the terrorists behind the planned attack had been hiding inside a luxurious villa with a swimming pool in Aqraba, the Syrian town where the Iranian forces were operating.

The statement came after Israel claimed responsibility for a series of strikes on Iranian and Iranian-linked targets in the town of Aqraba, southeast of Damascus, where the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force maintained facilities used to prepare for planned attacks on Israel.

Late Saturday night the IDF reported that it had carried out the attacks on the Iranian facilities in Aqraba in order to thwart a planned attack by Iranian-backed drone units on northern Israel.

Map showing site of foiled drone attack IDF spokesperson

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor group said Sunday that five people had been killed in the airstrikes, including at least one Iranian official and two Hezbollah terrorists.

"The Israeli raids targeting Iranian and Hezbollah posts... in the southeast of Damascus killed at least three people -- two from Hezbollah and a third who was Iranian," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Lebanese-based and Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization claimed that two unmanned Israeli aircraft were shot down over Beirut Saturday night.

While the Israeli government and military have not commented on the claim, some experts have suggested the downed drones may have been Iranian, not Israeli.