The fall of the Assad regime has led to military sanctions from Israel, which launched a military offensive against Syrian forces and sent ground troops in and out of the demilitarized zone for the first time in 50 years.
The Israeli army on Tuesday said it carried out 480 strikes across the country in the past two days, hitting many Syrian weapons depots, while the Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, said the Israeli army destroyed Syrian ships overnight, praising the plan. “a great success.”
The day before, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had hailed the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime as “a new and wonderful chapter.”
“The collapse of the Syrian regime is the result of the heavy blow we have inflicted on Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran,” he said at a rare press conference on Monday. “The Axis has not disappeared but as I promised – we are changing the face of the Middle East.”
Israeli officials have welcomed the fall of Assad, a staunch ally of Iran who has allowed his country to be used as a means of backing Hezbollah into Lebanon. But they also fear a possible threat from the Islamic extremists who rule Syria, which borders Israel on the occupied Golan Heights.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told reporters on Monday that Israel is bombing Syrian military sites housing chemical weapons and long-range weapons so they don’t fall “into the hands of extremists.”
“As for what will happen in the future, I am not a prophet,” he said. “It is important now to take all necessary measures in the context of Israel’s security.”
Smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike in Damascus on December 10. – Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images
CNN’s team in Damascus heard a large explosion in the early hours of Tuesday, a continuation of the strike that began over the weekend. Voice of the Capital, a Syrian militant group, said the overnight bombing campaign was “the most violent in Damascus in 15 years.”
Of the 480 strikes carried out by the Israeli Air Force, about 350 were struck by aircraft targeting airfields, anti-aircraft batteries, mines, drones, warplanes, tanks and weapons production facilities in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The rest of the strikes were in support of ground operations targeting ammunition depots, military facilities, launch sites and firing points.
The IDF also said its ships hit two Syrian facilities, where 15 ships were stationed. Hundreds of naval and naval weapons are said to have been destroyed.
Pictures taken by AFP photographers showed the massive destruction of military ships at the Syrian port in Latakia and destroyed Syrian military helicopters at the Mezzeh Air Base southwest of Damascus.
The aftermath of a suspected Israeli attack near Mezzeh Air Base, outside Damascus, on December 8. – Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images
Meanwhile, many Arab countries have accused Israel of using the unrest in Syria to seize land.
The Arab League, a group of Arab states, said Israel was “taking advantage of what is happening inside Syria,” and Egypt said its move was “to exploit the situation of instability and impurity … to take over some parts of Syria.”
‘Beyond the buffer zone’
Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, denied that the forces were “directed” toward Damascus, but admitted they were operating in Syria across the border. The Israeli army insisted that it “is not interfering with internal events in Syria.”
Katz said in a statement on Monday that Israel is creating a “security zone free of heavy weapons and terrorist facilities” in southern Syria, “across the buffer zone.”
Voice of the Capital reported on Tuesday that Israeli forces had moved to Beqaasem, about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the Syrian capital and several kilometers across the Syrian side of the buffer zone. CNN could not independently confirm the report, but the village in the Syrian foothills of Mount Hermon, which was captured by Israeli forces on Sunday. Mount Hermon is a unique high point that sits on the border between Syria, Lebanon, and the Golan Heights.
Israeli ground forces entered Syrian territory after Netanyahu on Sunday ordered troops to occupy the Israeli-occupied “separation zone” between the Golan Heights and the rest of Syria. That area was established in 1974, after Israeli forces – in response to a Syrian attack – captured the Golan Heights in 1967. Israel occupied the area in 1981, but it is still considered Syria under international law.
Israeli officials have declined to provide details on how far Israeli forces will go, or how long they will stay. Danny Dannon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council in a letter on Monday that his country was “deployed temporarily in a limited area.” He said that “limited and temporary measures against other threats to its citizens.”
Eyad Kourdi and Dana Karni contributed to this report.
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