Syrian rebels with links to Al-Qaeda and ISIS managed to rapidly topple – almost without any resistance – the decades-long Assad regime and entered the capital Damascus, and declared on state TV that Syria is now “free”.
That led neighbor Israel to immediately act in two different ways about it:
To begin with, Israel confirmed that it is carrying out air strikes on Syria to target suspected chemical weapons and missile sites.
Foreign minister Gideon Saarsaid the objective is to prevent these weapons systems from falling ‘into the hands of extremists’.
Dozens of Israeli air strikes took place in the past two days, including on a rocket development site in Damascus.
But that was not all – ground forces have also been deployed.
BBC reported:
“Also on Monday, the Israeli military released photos of its troops who crossed from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights into the demilitarized buffer zone in Syria where UN peacekeepers are based.
It comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the military had temporarily seized control of the so-called Area of Separation, saying the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had “collapsed” with the rebel takeover of the country.”
This is a historic day for the Middle East. The collapse of the Assad regime, the tyranny in Damascus, offers great opportunity but also is fraught with significant dangers.
We send a hand of peace to all those beyond our border in Syria: to the Druze, to the Kurds, to the… pic.twitter.com/yJZE3AZZJn
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 8, 2024
Watch: Israeli Air Force destruction of Al-Mezzeh airport near Damascus.
❗️⚔️ – Netanyahu ordered the destruction of Al-Mezzeh airport, officially known as Mezzeh military airport, located on the western outskirts of Damascus.
Israel has attacked air bases, defense systems, intelligence infrastructure and military and government facilities in… pic.twitter.com/r7ziokwX28
— The Informant (@theinformant_x) December 8, 2024
Watch: Israeli Air Force hit 150 targets today.
BREAKING
Israel’s army radio is reporting that the IDF has struck over 150 targets in Syria today. pic.twitter.com/MAUEpr1Tdb
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) December 9, 2024
Watch: Israeli Defense Forces footage of operations in Syria.
IDF footage of operations in Syria. pic.twitter.com/sYQ84dLG2d
— Israel MyChannel (@IsraelMychannel) December 9, 2024
The Golan Heights is a rocky plateau about 40 miles from Damascus, a key strategic area in military terms as a natural defense line against any ground military strike from Syria.
It’s also a key source of water, with drilling oil sites and a fertile soil for growing vineyards and orchards and raising livestock.
“Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Saar said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was only making ‘a very limited and temporary step’ taken for ‘security reasons’.”
The minister also said Israel has no interest in Syrian internal affairs, but was concerned solely with defending its citizens.
Watch: Israeli forces reportedly advancing beyond Golan Heights further into Syria.
ISRAEL ENTERS SYRIAN TERRITORY BEYOND THE GOLAN HEIGHTS
Sputnik’s exclusive footage shows Israeli tanks and bulldozers breaching a wall on the border of the Golan Heights region, entering Syrian soil beyond the Golan Heights for the first time in more than 50 years. https://t.co/wg8GorScIv pic.twitter.com/wwAIedFDIZ
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) December 9, 2024
“On Sunday, Netanyahu insisted Israel would ‘send a hand of peace’ to Syrians who wanted to live in peace with Israel. He said the IDF presence in the buffer zone was a “temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found”.
‘If we can establish neighborly relations and peaceful relations with the new forces emerging in Syria, that’s our desire. But if we do not, we will do whatever it takes to defend the State of Israel and the border of Israel’, he said.”
Thousands of Israeli settlers now live in the area alongside 20,000 Syrians.
Read more:
BREAKING: Syria’s Toppled Ruler Assad and His Family Arrive in Moscow – Russia Grants Them Asylum
