A senior Israeli intelligence official has reportedly established a secret operation room in northern Iraq to instigate anti-government protests in Syria in an effort to destabilize the country.

The operation room, equipped with sophisticated surveillance technology, enables Tel Aviv to wiretape and even hijack the Syrian telecommunication networks, a Press TV correspondent reported on Tuesday.

The espionage project was reportedly aimed at destabilizing Syria and creating division among Syrians through developing spy cells operating inside Syria.

The report comes as scores of Syrians have received text messages in recent days calling for anti-government protests to topple the President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian intelligence forces later discovered that the messages had been sent by an intelligence unit of the Israeli army stationed in the Tel Hashomer district in Gush Dan in central Israel.

In December, a number of Israeli spies were identified in Syria and Lebanon following the confessions of an Egyptian national suspected of spying for Israel.

A 37-year-old Egyptian businessman, Tareq Abdul Razzak, had confessed in December last year that over the past three years, he had paid several visits to the Syrian capital of Damascus with a fake passport and identity under the guise of business trips.

The suspect said he has delivered sums of money to a Syrian holding, a "sensitive" post with security services.

Abdul Razzak reportedly provided investigators with copies of reports he had passed on to Mossad from a Syrian security official.

(Press TV)