1000+ unique media and news posts every 24 hours…
Following the recent fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has reportedly carried out more than 300 airstrikes across Syria. This new round of attacks followed the first on the day Assad fled the country, which were intended to destroy suspected chemical weapons and long-range missile sites.
According to Israeli sources, the army attacked ‘320 strategic targets’ in an operation called ‘Bashan Arrow’, after the biblical name for the region in the Golan Heights and southern Syria. The operation was divided into several phases, the first of which focused on the destruction of air defenses.
The Israeli military says it has carried out strikes on 320 “strategic targets” in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime this weekend, destroying advanced weapons that Israel fears could fall into the hands of hostile elements, including Hezbollah.
The name of the operation…
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 10, 2024
The new attacks targeted key Syrian military infrastructure, including a research center with suspected links to chemical weapons production and a site in Damascus, the Syrian capital, reportedly used by Iranian scientists for missile development.
Situation of the former scientific research center in northern Damascus after Israeli attacks. pic.twitter.com/rBcUeu6joe
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 10, 2024
They also hit other weapons and ammunition arsenals, the Syrian air force and navy and weapons research centers. Locations include locations near or in the Syrian capital Damascus.
Among the targets hit is the port of Latakia, where several ships were destroyed, including six Osa II-class missile boats. The actual extent of the damage is unclear, but Israel claims its navy destroyed all of the Syrian Navy’s ships.
***UPDATE***
Images of sunken Syrian naval vessels after last night’s Israeli naval attack on Latakia, Syria.
6 vintage OSA-II class missile boats.
— Hello Sutton (@covertshores.bsky.social) December 10, 2024 at 1:15 PM
Situation in the port of Latakia after the Israeli attacks. pic.twitter.com/bEsn5tbcK1
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 10, 2024
Israeli sources claimed that the Syrian Air Force had reportedly destroyed all its MiG-29s and a large number of Su-22 and Su-24 aircraft. Images and videos released so far show MiG-21 and MiG-29 destroyed, as well as armed Gazelle helicopters and air defense systems, with penetrating ammunition used to destroy aircraft in hardened shelters.
Several Syrian Air Force MiG-29s were reportedly destroyed yesterday as a result of Israeli Air Force strikes on the Khalkhalah airbase in Suwayda Governorate. pic.twitter.com/T7sWOXQPwU
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 9, 2024
Reportedly the aftermath of Israeli attacks on Syrian air bases.
Dozens of aircraft, helicopters and defense systems were destroyed. pic.twitter.com/0u1lrGFPuZ
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 10, 2024
Israeli officials emphasized that these strikes aimed to prevent advanced weapons from falling into the hands of extremists hostile to Israel, such as Iran-linked militias or radical insurgents now vying for control in the power vacuum left by the fall of Assad. These weapons more than likely include chemical weaponsthat Assad was infamous for using it against his own citizens. The attacks come as the UN’s chemical watchdog warns authorities in Syria to safeguard this suspicion stockpiles of chemical weapons are safe.
There currently appear to be no civilian casualties from the Israeli attacks, including infrastructure. According to BBC reportsthe IDF-hit locations were guarded by HTS men and journalists were denied access to see the damage with their own eyes.
IDF attacks in Syria and other nations are not a new concept – Israel has openly admitted to bombing targets linked to Iran and terrorist groups linked to Iran, such as Hezbollah. In particular the The US has also carried out strikes within Syria to prevent ISIS-affiliated groups from exploiting the unstable situation in the country.
The Israeli attacks on Syrian territory come after a successful revolution in which rebel groups, led by the Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), overthrew dictator Bashar al-Assad’s government over Syria. Assad was extensively supported by Iran, Hezbollah and Russia.
The uprising was a rapid and decisive operation. With Assad’s two most powerful backers significantly weakened – Hezbollah in the war between Israel and Gaza and the cross-border air strikes between Israel and Lebanon, and Russia devoting resources to the war in Ukraine – HTS and its rebels were able to conquer large parts of Syria, including the capital Damascus.
The dictator and his father had been in power since 1971 and ruled with an iron fist. Rumors circulated that an Il-76 carrying Assad crashed on December 9, 2024, but it was later revealed by the Kremlin that Assad had safely fled to Moscow with his British wife and two adult children.
HTS was a direct subsidiary of Al Qaedaand is one of the founders of Islamic State. Although Assad had ties to Hezbollah and Iran, some of Israel’s worst enemies, Israeli calculations from 2011 showed that what would follow the regime could potentially be much worse for them than the Assad government.
Israeli ground forces, including tanks and personnel, also crossed the Golan Heights on December 9, after Syrian troops abandoned their posts. This is to “not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our (Israeli) border.” According to Nehanyahu, the IDF’s capture of Syrian positions in the buffer zone was a “temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found.”
The deployed unit is the 98th Division, which is composed of a Command Brigade, a regular full-time Parachute Brigade and a maximum of 2 Reserve Parachute Brigades. The deployment of troops followed Israeli President Nehanyahu’s announcement that the IDF had taken control of the DMZ, claiming that the 1974 agreement had effectively “collapsed” with the rebel takeover.
The Golan Heights are an Israeli-occupied territory next to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) between Israel and Syria, taken over from Syria in the Six Day War of 1967and annexed in 1981. It is of particular interest to the IDF, perhaps because of its family ties to Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the HTS leader, who was originally from the region.
Israel issued a statement saying that the IDF was taking only “limited and temporary steps” to protect its own civilians for “security reasons” and that they had no interest in internal Syrian affairs.
1000+ unique media and news posts every 24 hours…