On Saturday December 7, as the rebels returned to Damascus and the fall of the Assad regime was only a matter of hours, Israel launched an undeclared war against Syria. The so-called “Bashan Arrow” operation began with one of the largest attacks in the history of the Jewish state air forces, which launched no less than 350 aircraft – the equivalent of the French Air Force fleet – attacking Syrian territory. In forty-eight hours, these devices hit some 320 targets.
According to the Israeli general staff, this first wave of bombings led to the destruction of around 80% of the Syrian army’s capabilities: anti-aircraft batteries, airfields, weapons production sites in Damascus, Homs, Tartous. , Latakia, Palmyra. The Syrian anti-aircraft defense, considered one of the most powerful in the Middle East, was obliterated: 90% of the identified surface-to-air missile batteries were destroyed. “Most of these systems were dated, but Israel is moving from contested air supremacy to complete supremacy, which could facilitate strikes on Iran”explains Michael Horowitz, an analyst working for Le Beck, a think tank on the Middle East.
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