From one front to the other. After more than a year of war against Hamas and Hezbollah, and while it must begin a partial withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the Israeli army is now extending its operations into Syrian territory. Since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, and the capture of Damascus by rebels led by the Islamists of HTS, the IDF has carried out at least 300 air strikes on military sites of the fallen regime.
Russian-made fighter jets, anti-aircraft batteries, radars, tanks, weapons stocks and production plants were methodically destroyed. On the Mediterranean coast, in the ports of al-Bayda and Latakia, several Syrian navy ships carrying sea-to-sea missiles were sunk. A scientific research center linked to Syria's chemical weapons program was also bombed. “In Israel's eyes, Syria is not a unified country and it is preferable to prevent sophisticated weapons from falling into the wrong hands,” said Shmuel Rosner, researcher at the Jewish people policy institute applied research center. of Jerusalem. “Too bad if it creates antagonism with the rebels. »
“This is a dangerous provocation”
In addition, on Sunday, the Jewish state seized the Syrian slope of Mount Hermon. Damascus is now only 40 km from this buffer zone located on the edge of the Golan Heights occupied and annexed by Israel. Could this new advance into Syrian territory be the prelude to a further expansion of the only state in the world whose Constitution does not provide for fixed borders? According to the UN, it is, in any case, a flagrant “violation” of the 1974 disengagement agreement, while Tel Aviv affirms that this “temporary” measure aims to ensure Israel’s security. The annexed Golan “will be part of the State of Israel for eternity,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, still under an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity.
“It’s a dangerous provocation,” underlines Michel Duclos, former French ambassador to Syria and special advisor to the Montaigne Institute. “If local Syrian groups posed a real danger to Israel, we would have known it a long time ago. I fear a form of opportunism. »
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