The Israel Defense Forces launched widespread strikes across Syria over the past two days to wipe out what remained of the Assad regime’s military arsenal.
The Israeli Air Force carried out about 480 strikes targeting most of the country’s strategic weapon stockpiles left behind after rebels forced Syrian leader Bashar Assad to flee the country.
About 350 of the strikes were crewed aircraft targeting Syrian military assets, including aircraft, ammunition depots, storage facilities, and missile and radar systems. The Israeli Navy also destroyed several military vessels docked at two Syrian naval ports. The Israeli army seized strategic positions in the Golan Heights abandoned by Syrian troops.
Israeli officials said the extensive strikes on Syria were intended to prevent the Assad government’s military infrastructure and weapons from being used by extremists and potential foes. Israel is exploiting the Assad regime’s fall to enhance its security in the long term as it uses blistering force to cripple Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The fall of Assad
After a decadeslong dictatorship, rebel forces seized control of the Syrian capital of Damascus over the weekend, forcing Assad to relinquish power and flee the country.
“We declare Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad,” Hassan Abdul-Ghani, commander of the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, wrote in a post on social media. “To the displaced people around the world, free Syria awaits you.”
Former Syrian prime minister Ghazi al-Jalali remained in the country after the collapse of the Assad regime, saying the government is willing to cooperate and support “any leadership chosen by the Syrian people.”
Creating a ‘sterile defense zone’
While Israel supported ousting Assad, a staunch ally of Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the situation in Syria is still “fraught with significant dangers” from the extremists now governing the country.
In the days after the dayslong rebel offensive ousted the Syrian dictator, Israel launched hundreds of strikes targeting Syrian military assets over 48 hours to prevent them “from falling into the hands of terrorist elements.” HTS publicly split with the Al Qaeda affiliate from which it formed, but US officials believe it may still have links to Al Qaeda leaders.
“We have no intention of interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, but we clearly intend to do what is necessary to ensure our security,” Netanyahu said.
“I authorized the air force to bomb strategic military capabilities left by the Syrian army so that they would not fall into the hands of the jihadists,” he said, adding that Israel “would like to form relations with the new regime in Syria.”
The IDF said the strikes were part of a larger-scale mission known as Operation Bashan Arrow, intended to create a “sterile defense zone” by neutralizing potential threats from the neighboring country.
Sinking Syrian warships
Israeli forces attacked key Syrian naval facilities in the port cities of Al-Bayda and Latakia late Tuesday, where more than a dozen Syrian naval vessels were docked.
Photos of the decimated port showed half-submerged Syrian warships. Some of the damaged vessels were Osa-class missile boats, Soviet-era vessels whose 30mm turrets and mounted missile launchers could be seen in the wreckage.
The Syrian navy, the smallest branch of the country’s armed forces, operated over a dozen of the high-speed — albeit outdated — vessels developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s.
Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz said Israeli Navy missile ships “destroyed Syria’s navy overnight and with great success.” It’s not clear how many Syrian vessels were destroyed by Israeli warships in the overnight attack.
Satellite images of Latakia, a former stronghold of Assad, showed the charred wreckage of the naval ships. The IDF wrote in a post on X that “dozens of sea-to-sea missiles” with “significant explosive payloads” were also destroyed.
Destroying Syrian military aircraft
The IAF carried out an airstrike on the Mezzeh Air Base in Damascus, once a key stronghold of the Assad regime’s air force.
At least three major Syrian army air bases were attacked by Israeli warplanes, damaging dozens of helicopters and fighter jets, The Times of Israel reported. Locals living near the bases said they heard several explosions after the Israeli strikes appeared to ignite the ammunition stored there, the Associated Press reported.
Dismantling Syrian military infrastructure
In addition to decimating Syria’s aerial and naval fleet, the IDF said it carried out strikes on 130 military assets, such as firing positions, antiaircraft batteries, missile and radar systems, and weapons production sites.
Crippling Syria’s chemical weapons infrastructure
Israeli forces also destroyed the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center in Damascus, a key facility thought to be testing and operating the country’s covert chemical and biological weapons programs under the Assad regime.
The Barzeh facility was previously bombarded in 2018 by US, UK, and French forces in response to a poison sarin gas attack in Douma, Syria. The US found Assad’s government responsible for the April 2018 chemical warfare attack that killed at least 40 people and injured over 100.
However, the head of the center’s polymers department told Reuters at the time that the facility, now reduced to rubble, was used to research medicinal components that couldn’t be imported, such as anti-venom and cancer treatments.
‘Changing the face of the Middle East’
The fall of the Syrian regime weakens Iran’s regional influence and could pose logistical and strategic challenges to Iran’s regional proxies like the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
“The collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct result of the severe blows with which we have struck Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran,” Netanyahu said during a Monday press conference. “The axis has not yet disappeared, but as I promised — we are changing the face of the Middle East.”
Despite the widespread strikes across Syria, Israeli military officials said the country’s armed forces were operating beyond the Israeli-occupied demilitarized buffer zone in Golan Heights but not toward the Syrian capital.
“IDF forces are not advancing towards Damascus. This is not something we are doing or pursuing in any way,” IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said at a briefing. “We are not involved in what’s happening in Syria internally, we are not a side in this conflict, and we do not have any interest other than protecting our borders and the security of our citizens.”
Katz, Israel’s defense minister, said the country was advancing beyond Golan Heights to impose a “security zone free of heavy strategic weapons and terrorist infrastructures” in southern Syria.
“With regard to what will be in the future, I’m not a prophet,” Katz said. “It is important right now to take all necessary steps in the context of the security of Israel.”
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