srael conducts 480 airstrikes in Syria and captures land as Netanyahu vows to transform the face of the Middle East

 

Israel conducts 480 airstrikes in Syria and captures land as Netanyahu vows to transform the face of the Middle East

The disintegration of the Assad administration has triggered a severe military reaction from Israel, which has executed air assaults on military sites throughout Syria and dispatched ground forces into and beyond a demilitarized buffer zone for the first occasion in 50 years.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military reported that it had executed approximately 480 attacks nationwide over the preceding two days, targeting most of Syria’s key weaponry stockpiles, while Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that the Israeli navy had obliterated the Syrian fleet overnight, celebrating the operation as “a significant triumph.”

Just one day prior, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the dissolution of Bashar al-Assad’s administration as “a new and dramatic chapter.”

“The collapse of the Syrian authority is a straightforward outcome of the heavy blows we have delivered to Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran,” he stated during an uncommon press briefing on Monday. “The axis hasn't yet vanished, but as I committed – we are altering the face of the Middle East.”

Israeli officials have taken pleasure in the downfall of Assad, a loyal ally of Iran who permitted his nation to serve as a resupply corridor for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Nevertheless, they also harbor concerns about the potential consequences of radical Islamists controlling Syria, which borders Israel in the occupied Golan Heights.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar informed reporters on Monday that Israel was targeting Syrian military establishments housing chemical weapon stockpiles and long-range missiles to avert them from ending up “in the hands of extremists.” A CNN team stationed in Damascus reported loud detonations during the early hours on Tuesday, marking a continuation of the strikes that commenced over the weekend. Voice of the Capital, a Syrian activist organization, declared that the overnight bombardment was “the most intense in Damascus in the past 15 years.”

Out of the 480 airstrikes executed by the Israeli Air Force, around 350 were attributed to manned aircraft targeting airstrips, anti-aircraft installations, missiles, drones, fighter jets, tanks, and arms production facilities in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia, and Palmyra, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The remainder of the strikes provided support for ground operations that concentrated on weapon depots, military structures, launchers, and firing positions.

The IDF also reported that its vessels struck two Syrian naval positions, where 15 ships were docked. Numerous sea-to-sea missiles were reportedly annihilated.

Photographs taken by AFP photographers displayed extensive devastation of military vessels at the Syrian naval harbor in Latakia and destroyed Syrian military helicopters at the Mezzeh Air Base located southwest of Damascus.