Israel seizes its opportunity and destroys a large part of the Syrian defense apparatus

It is not often that a state takes advantage of a change of power in a neighboring country to – as a precautionary measure – destroy a large part of the defense apparatus of that neighboring state, even before the new regime has been properly installed. Yet that is exactly what Israel has done in Syria in recent days. It saw the opportunity after the fall of the Assad regime to rid Syria of many heavy weapons and infrastructure without interruption. Until recently it shied away from such a drastic step, fearing risky confrontations with Iran and Hezbollah, but both have been so weakened that Israel now had nothing to fear.

Already on Saturday evening, while Bashar al-Assad was still living out his last hours as president of Syria in Damascus, Israeli air strikes on targets in Syria began. According to the Times of Israel were initially aimed at the Syrian air defenses, so that the Israeli air force could operate relatively undisturbed after their destruction.

In the four following days and nights, Israel carried out a total of more than 350 attacks on military targets in Syria, ranging from airfields, weapons depots, weapons production centers, radar equipment, rocket launch sites, various types of missiles, tanks and hangars. Also hit were some sites that the Israelis believed were or could be used for the production of chemical weapons.

Israel carried out a total of more than 350 attacks on military targets in Syria

The targets were spread throughout Syria. Some were in the capital Damascus and the surrounding area, where heavy explosions were occasionally heard, including in Homs, Latakia, Tartus and Palmyra. To top it all off, during the night from Monday to Tuesday, Israeli naval vessels reduced part of the otherwise modest Syrian war fleet to smoking wrecks in the port of Latakia.

Israeli military spokespeople happily estimated that the actions had destroyed some 70 to 80 percent of the strategic military assets of President Assad’s ousted regime. According to Israeli media, these were the largest Israeli attacks on Syria in decades. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties in the bombings and, if so, how many.

Jihadists

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Tuesday the Israeli performance in a video message. This was necessary, he said, so that these weapons “do not fall into the hands of the jihadists.” He left it unclear whether he was referring to HTS, the insurgent group that brought about the fall of Assad and which itself has jihadist roots. Netanyahu then proclaimed: “We have no intention of interfering in Syria’s internal affairs.” However, he immediately added to that promise the caveat that Israel will do what it deems necessary for its own security.

It was not the first time that Israel bombed military targets in Syria. Such attacks had also occurred regularly under the regime of President Assad for years. This usually involved attacks on Iranian arms transports and installations, and often also on weapons and goods intended for Iran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Israel often appeared to be well informed about Iranian activities in Syria. Although Israel’s intelligence services have a fearsome reputation, Iranian officials gradually became increasingly convinced that Israel could take advantage of Syrian leaks about Iranian plans in Syria. “People within his (Assad’s, ed.) regime leaked information about the whereabouts of Iranian commanders,” signed the Financial Times this week from the mouth of an anonymous official. “Assad turned his back on us when we needed him most.”

For example, on April 1 of this year, Israel carried out a rocket attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, where senior Iranian military officials were gathered at the time. Seven of them were killed, including several brigadier generals.

Golan Heights

It was not immediately clear whether these were politically inspired leaks or Syrian officials who had simply been bribed by Israel. Corruption was also endemic in the Syrian security apparatus under Assad. The last days are here new documents surfaced which also indicate contacts between Assad’s National Security Office and Israel regarding Iranian military activities in Syria. The authenticity of these documents could not immediately be determined.

Despite Netanyahu’s promise not to interfere in Syria’s internal affairs, Israel has also used the fall of Assad to push its troops a little further into Syria. Israel has occupied the Golan Heights in violation of international law since the 1967 war. Israel even annexed this area in 1981. In recent days, Israeli soldiers, also accompanied by some tanks, advanced into a buffer zone in southwestern Syria, which dates from after the 1973 war. Israeli spokesmen acknowledged that the Israeli army had even penetrated slightly outside that buffer zone here and there. A move that sparked anger among many Arab countries and Turkey.

Israeli soldiers pass the fence around the buffer zone with Syria on Wednesday, near the village of Majdal Shams on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Although Geir Pedersen, the UN envoy for Syria, called on foreign powers on Tuesday not to endanger the fragile transition process to a new Syrian government, a warning that seemed mainly aimed at Israel, Israel received little response from the United States and Europe. criticism for his actions in Syria.

The new rulers in Damascus also preferred to concentrate on other things. For example on the in get hands on of control over the oil fields near the city of Deir al-Zour, in northeastern Syria. This worked.

To share





Email the editor