The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported this Tuesday that Israel “destroyed the main military sites” in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad on Sunday. The Jewish state says it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of “extremist” rebels.
Since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, the Israeli army has carried out around 250 strikes against Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said on Tuesday, December 10. According to the organization, the IDF “destroyed the main military sites” in the country.
The Jewish state has bombed airports, radars, arms and ammunition depots but also military research centers in Syria. The IDF also damaged Syrian naval vessels by attacking an air defense unit near the major port of Latakia in the northwest of the country.
On Monday, the head of Israeli diplomacy, Gideon Saar, affirmed that his country attacks “strategic weapons systems such as for example remnants of chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets so that they do not fall to the hands of extremists. Syria’s new masters are driven by “an extreme ideology of radical Islam,” he added.
In a press release, the OSDH believes for its part that these raids aim to “destruct the remaining weapons in warehouses and military units which were controlled by the forces of the former regime”, an ally of Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah. .
Bashar al-Assad’s regime was swept away on Sunday by a spectacular offensive by rebel groups led by the radical Islamist movement Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). This former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda claims to have broken with jihadism, without really convincing Western countries. The United States in particular classifies it as a terrorist organization.
In parallel with its bombings, the Israeli army has for several days been carrying out an incursion into the buffer zone on the edge of the occupied and annexed part of the Golan Heights. On Monday, the UN spokesperson indicated that the IDF’s advance in this area constitutes “a violation” of the 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria.
The Israelis conquered part of this mountainous plateau in 1967, repelled a Syrian attack aimed at recovering it during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, before annexing it in 1981. On Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu said that this part of the Syrian Golan belonged to his country “for eternity” and thanked Donald Trump for recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over this territory in 2019, during his first term presidential.
BACHAR AL-ASSAD ON FLEE TO MOSCOW
Washington reacted to the Israeli incursion into the Golan buffer zone in Syria, assuring that it was “a temporary measure that they took in response to the actions of the Syrian army aimed at withdrawing from this area”. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller promised to ensure that the 1974 disengagement agreement “is fully respected,” knowing that it provides for “Israel’s withdrawal to its former position.”
Meanwhile, in Damascus, thousands of people wait for news of their loved ones in front of the sinister Saydnaya prison, captured by rebels on Sunday. In 2022, the OSDH estimated that more than 100,000 people had died in this immense prison complex since the start of the civil war in 2011, notably from torture.
According to Russian news agencies, Bashar al-Assad fled Syria with his family to reach Moscow. Lebanese media indicate that several former dignitaries of his government have taken refuge in Beirut, under the protection of Hezbollah.
The rebel commander, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, whose real name is Ahmed al-Chareh, has promised rewards to anyone who allows the capture of these former officials “involved in war crimes”, according to him. He also spoke on Monday with the former Prime Minister, Mohammed al-Jalali, to “coordinate the transition of power”. In a press release, the rebels assure that it is supported by Parliament and the Baath party of Bashar al-Assad.
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