Syria’s new government may view peace with Israel as a top priority, but Israel seems to be heading in a different direction, as they airstrikes continue to escalate against sites across Syria, and Israeli ground forces are taking more and more strategic locations in southern Syria.
Locals reported huge explosions in the northern Syrian city of al-Safira, just east of Aleppo. There were at least seven airstrikes reported against different targets in the city, mostly targeting defense industry factories, but also some hitting research centers in the area.
The attacks were carried out overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning. Locals said the explosions were so huge they “turned night into day.” There are still no official figures on the casualties from any of these latest attacks.
This is a continuation of the Israeli attacks on Syria’s military infrastructure, strikes which have escalated since the recent regime change. Israel may have backed that regime change, but it’s not stopping them from attacking Syria every chance they get.
On Wednesday, Israel also carried out an attack on the Tal al-Shahem military camp. The camp is near Damascus and overlooks the southern Quneitra Province. Since Israel is in the process of occupying more and more of that province, the camp apparently was perceived as a potential obstacle to their ground operations.
Israel used the regime change as a pretext to seize substantial land in the demilitarized zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the rest of Syria. Since then they’ve moved deeper into Syria, and Wednesday they reached the al-Mantara Dam in Quneitra Province.
The dam is the largest in southern Syria, and gives them effective control over the six major sources of fresh water in southern Syria. They have also recently taken the al-Wahda Dam along the Yarmouk River Basin.
