The Israeli military said Tuesday that it launched 480 strikes in Syria over 48 hours following the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which Israeli media said marked the heaviest Israeli bombing of Syria in history.
The IDF said it struck “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria” and estimated it destroyed between 70% to 80% of the former government’s weapons. Israeli strikes hit targets across Syria, including the port of Latakia, which destroyed naval vessels.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli bombing campaign “destroyed the most important military sites in Syria, including Syrian airports and their warehouses, aircraft squadrons, radars, military signal stations, and many weapons and ammunition depots in various locations in most Syrian governorates.”
Israel has also seized territory inside Syria, a buffer zone separating the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, and several areas beyond the zone. Sources told Reuters Israeli forces advanced 10 kilometers into Syrian territory and were only 25 kilometers away from Damascus.
Israeli sources denied that Israeli troops advanced that far into Syria but also announced they were creating a “sterile defense zone” in southern Syria, framing the occupation as temporary. The US has backed Israel’s land grab in Syria, also claiming it was a defensive move.
“Together with the prime minister, I have instructed the [military] to establish a sterile defense zone free of weapons and terrorist threats in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday claimed Israel doesn’t seek to interfere in Syria’s “internal affairs” despite the massive bombing campaign and land grab. He also threatened that Israel would take more action if the new government aligned with Iran.
“If the new regime in Syria allows Iran to re-establish itself, or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah – we will respond forcefully and we will exact a heavy price,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader previously took credit for the overthrow of Assad by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, and celebrated the regime change. “The Assad regime is a central link in Iran’s axis of evil — this regime has fallen,” he said on Sunday.
