Israel launched over 480 strikes across Syria in the two days following their "liberation" from Bashar al-Assad, destroying their air defense systems, long-range missiles, weapons stockpiles, airfields, anti-aircraft batteries, drones, fighter jets, naval vessels, tanks and weapon production sites to ensure the former regional threat remains a rump state forever.
Aftermath of alleged Israeli strike on Al-Mazzeh military air base.
Israel’s military reports it conducted 480 strikes on Syria recently, eliminating 15 naval vessels, air defence systems, and weapons manufacturing sites in various cities.#Syria#AlMazzeh#Israel#IDF… pic.twitter.com/AwZzO29V0t
HTS spokesman Obeida Arnaout is asked by Channel 4 News about Israel’s strikes on over 300 sites in Syria (latest update: 480 strikes). He refused to denounce Israel’s massive airstrikes and ground incursions. When pressed, he offered vague, general comments. pic.twitter.com/cetEisYXIs
The collapse of the Assad regime has prompted a punishing military response from Israel, which has launched airstrikes at military targets across Syria and deployed ground troops both into and beyond a demilitarized buffer zone for the first time in 50 years.
The Israeli military on Tuesday said it had carried out about 480 strikes across the country over the past two days, hitting most of Syria’s strategic weapon stockpiles, while Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli navy had destroyed the Syrian fleet overnight, hailing the operation as “a great success.”
Just a day earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had hailed the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime as “a new and dramatic chapter.”
“The collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct result of the severe blows with which we have struck Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran,” he said during a rare press conference Monday. “The axis has not yet disappeared but as I promised – we are changing the face of the Middle East.”
Israeli officials have reveled in the downfall of Assad, a staunch ally of Iran who allowed his country to be used as a resupply route for Hezbollah in Lebanon. But they also fear what could come from radical Islamists governing Syria, which borders Israel in the occupied Golan Heights.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told journalists on Monday that Israel was bombing Syrian military facilities housing chemical weapons stocks and long-range missiles to prevent them from falling “into the hands of extremists.”
“With regard to what will be in the future, I’m not a prophet,” he said. “It is important right now to take all necessary steps in the context of the security of Israel.”
A CNN team in Damascus heard loud explosions throughout the early hours on Tuesday, a continuation of strikes that began over the weekend. Voice of the Capital, a Syrian activist 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 manned aircraft strikes targeting airfields, anti-aircraft batteries, missiles, drones, fighter jets, tanks and weapon production sites in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The rest of the strikes were in support of ground operations that targeted weapons depots, military structures, launchers and firing positions.
The IDF also said its ships struck two Syrian naval facilities, where 15 vessels were docked. Dozens of sea-to-sea missiles were said to have been destroyed.
If the "diversity-friendly" jihadists behind this revolution are not working for Israel directly, then this will go down as the greatest self-own in history.
Israel launched over 480 strikes across Syria in the two days following their "liberation" from Bashar al-Assad, destroying their air defense systems, long-range missiles, weapons stockpiles, airfields, anti-aircraft batteries, drones, fighter jets, naval vessels, tanks and weapon production sites to ensure the former regional threat remains a rump state forever.