Israel Fires 480 Missiles at Syria, Takes Control of Territories 'Changing Face of Middle East'

The fall of the Assad regime has prompted a punitive military response from Israel, which has launched airstrikes on military targets across Syria and deployed ground troops for the first time in 50 years both inside and outside the demilitarized buffer zone, reports CNN.

Photo: Alejandro Bernal | Dreamstime.com

On December 10, the Israeli military reported that it had carried out some 480 strikes on Syrian territory over the past two days, hitting most of its strategic weapons stockpiles. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli Navy had destroyed the Syrian fleet overnight, calling the operation a “great success.”

Just a day earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime as "a new and dramatic chapter."

On the subject: Bashar al-Assad fled Syria to Moscow: Putin granted him asylum

"The collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct result of the strong blows we have dealt to Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran," he said on December 9. "The axis of evil is not gone yet, but as I promised, we are changing the face of the Middle East."

Israeli officials have celebrated the fall of Assad, a staunch Iranian ally who allowed his country to be used as a supply base for Hezbollah in Lebanon. But they are also wary of decisions by radical Islamists who have taken power in Syria, which borders Israel in the occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters on December 9 that Israel was bombing Syrian military sites that house chemical weapons and long-range missiles to prevent them from falling into the hands of extremists.

"As for the future, I am not a prophet," he said. "What is important now is to take all necessary steps in the context of Israel's security."

A CNN team in Damascus heard loud explosions in the early hours of December 10, a continuation of strikes that began over the weekend. Syrian activist group Voice of the Capital said the overnight bombing was “the worst in Damascus in 15 years.”

Of the 480 strikes carried out by the Israeli Air Force, about 350 were manned airstrikes targeting airfields, anti-aircraft batteries, missiles, drones, fighter jets, tanks and weapons production facilities in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The rest of the strikes were in support of ground operations targeting weapons depots, military installations, launch pads and firing positions.

The IDF said its ships struck two Syrian naval facilities where 15 vessels were moored, destroying dozens of sea-to-sea missiles.

Pictures taken by AFP photographers showed extensive destruction of warships at the Syrian naval port of Latakia and destroyed Syrian military helicopters at the Mezzeh airbase southwest of Damascus.

Meanwhile, several Arab states have accused Israel of exploiting instability in Syria to seize land.

The Arab League, an umbrella body for Arab countries, said Israel was "taking advantage of the developments in the internal situation in Syria" and Egypt said its actions "constitute exploitation of the unstable situation in the region to occupy more Syrian territory."

"Beyond the Buffer Zone"

Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, denied that Israeli forces were advancing toward Damascus but acknowledged that they were operating in Syria outside the buffer zone. The Israeli military insists that it "does not interfere in internal events in Syria."

Katz said in a statement on Monday, December 9, that Israel was creating a "security zone free of heavy strategic weapons and terrorist infrastructure" in southern Syria "outside the buffer zone."

Syrian activists at Voice of the Capital reported on December 10 that Israeli forces had advanced as far as Bekaasem, about 25 kilometers from the Syrian capital and a few kilometers from the Syrian side of the buffer zone. The village is located in the Syrian foothills of Mount Hermon, which Israeli forces captured on Sunday. The mountain is a strategic height located on the border between Syria, Lebanon and the Golan Heights.

Israeli ground forces entered Syrian territory after Netanyahu ordered the military to seize the demilitarized "separation zone" between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the rest of Syria on Sunday, December 8.

The zone was established in 1974 after Israeli forces captured the Golan Heights in 1967 in response to a Syrian attack. Israel annexed the territory in 1981, but it is still considered occupied Syrian territory under international law.

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Israeli officials have declined to provide details about how far Israeli forces will advance or how long they will remain there. Danny Dannon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council in a Dec. 9 letter that his country had “temporarily deployed troops in several locations,” which he called “limited and temporary measures to counter any further threat to Israeli citizens.”

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