Image on social media purportedly showing an Israeli strike on the port of Latakia, Syria on December 9, 2024 (Photo used under section 27A of the copyright law)
Just over 48 hours after Bashar al-Assad fled his country, the Israeli military has almost completely destroyed the Syrian armed forces in a massive operation involving the Air Force and the Navy, involving hundreds of near non-stop strikes across Syria.
Army Radio said that over 250 strikes have been carried out so far, while Syrian reports said the number had risen to over 300.
Reports of strikes came in from across the country, including the coastal areas and the far north, hundreds of kilometers north of Israel.
A security official described this as “one of the largest attack operations in the history of the Air Force,” while speaking to Army Radio.
מתוצאות העבודה העברית בסוריה בימים האחרונים pic.twitter.com/7T5UBHDL4B
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) December 10, 2024
While Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed Monday that strategic weapons were struck , mentioning “chemical weapons, long-range missiles and rockets,” reports since then indicated that Israel has decided to destroy the Syrian armed forces completely and systematically.
“Israel has been conducting an airstrike operation unprecedented in recent decades, aiming to destroy a country’s army, in the last two days,” Army Radio’s military correspondent Doron Kadosh wrote.
עוד תיעוד של תוצאות העבודה העברית https://t.co/YGmTuPnJlK pic.twitter.com/e66PPof069
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) December 10, 2024
“In more than 250 airstrikes, the air force destroyed Assad’s army: tanks, planes, helicopters, ships, air defense systems, missiles, military factories, intelligence facilities, and everything that the army of the Syrian state has held and built for decades – is literally being destroyed these days.”
“Israel made a strategic decision to destroy all advanced and strategic military capabilities remaining in Syria after the fall of the regime, and if this operation is completed successfully – the new rebel government will have to start from the beginning, with M-16s and Kalashnikovs, to build their military capabilities as a new state,” he added.
דוגמית מתקיפה בעיר החוף לטקיה הערב https://t.co/Uozi4qyRsK pic.twitter.com/e1nHoXr2UY
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) December 9, 2024
After the operation was started by the Air Force, Kadosh reported Tuesday that the Israeli Navy’s missile ships had joined in and sunk “many vessels of the Syrian Navy, carrying dozens of sea-to-sea missiles, in the area of Minaa al-Beida and in the port of Latakia.”
Following the fall of the Assad regime on Sunday, Israeli officials explained that the IDF would destroy strategic weapon systems to prevent them from falling into the hands of Islamist rebels, like Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), whose leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani has been leading efforts to create a transition government in recent days.
pay attention to what a group of Syrian rebels said yesterday at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus: “We entered the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus chanting Allah Akbar and with the help of Allah we will also enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque and we will also enter the Prophet Muhammad’s Mosque… https://t.co/5z5QTFbwpe
— Matthew Levitt (@Levitt_Matt) December 10, 2024
While al-Jolani so far hasn’t commented on his plans regarding the relations with Israel, footage of Islamist fighters ostensibly taken at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on Sunday showed them threatening that they would aim to reach Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque next.
The HTS-led umbrella group of opposition forces stated Saturday that it doesn’t intend to use the chemical weapons stores falling into its hands, vowing to work with international partners to monitor the outlawed weapons.
“They want to have it as a deterrent and that’s why they’re talking about monitoring versus having them destroyed,” Aaron Zelin, an expert on Islamist groups at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Wall Street Journal.
According to the WSJ’s report, Israel estimated in recent years that Syria held about 1,300 tons of chemicals, including nerve agents sarin and VX, and mustard gas.
“We have a responsibility to make sure strategic weapon systems don’t fall into the wrong hands,” an Israeli official explained to Axios. The Israeli strikes, at least those targeting strategic weapons, appear to be closely coordinated with the U.S.
A U.S. official also told reporters that the Biden administration was cooperating with countries in the region to prevent chemical weapons falling into the hands of radical groups.
“We are taking very prudent measures about this … We are doing everything we can to ensure that those materials are not available to anyone and are cared for,” the official said, adding the U.S. had “good fidelity” on their status and believes they haven’t been taken over by rebels yet.
“We want to make sure that chlorine or things that are far worse are destroyed or secured. There are several efforts in this regard with partners in the region,” U.S. officials said.
