IDF attacks have permanently changed the face of Syrian military threat

90% of advanced anti-aircraft missiles were destroyed, and SU-22 and SU-24 aircraft squadrons were destroyed.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB DECEMBER 12, 2024 17:00 Updated: DECEMBER 12, 2024 17:02

IDF soldiers operate on Mount Hermon, on the border between Israel and Syria, December 12, 2024 (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

The Israeli air force, more than 500 attacks on Syria's military assets in a 48-hour period this week since the fall of the Assad regime, have permanently and radically altered the threat that any future Syrian regime can pose to the State of Israel, the IDF said on Thursday.

This means that in the worst-case scenario, if Syria's new rulers, the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), decide to be hostile to Israel, they will not be able to immediately threaten the Jewish state with anywhere near the kind of advanced and long-range weaponry which the Assad regime wielded.

Unveiling a slew of staggering statistics, the IDF noted that it destroyed over 90% of Syria's advanced anti-aircraft missiles, especially the SA22 and SA17 systems, which were sometimes shooting down portions of Israeli attacks on the smuggling of Iranian weapons through the area.

In total, about 85% of Syria's air defenses were destroyed, including less advanced systems.

SU-22, SU-24 aircraft squadrons destroyed

Next, the IDF said that Syria's SU-22 and SU-24 aircraft squadrons were completely destroyed, and, in total, around 40% of the Syrian air force.

IDF soldiers operate on Mount Hermon, on the border between Israel and Syria, December 12, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

100% of Syrian explosive drones were destroyed and 390 significant Syrian firepower targets were destroyed by the air force.

Besides these more active attack systems, the air force now has a stunning air superiority in Syrian airspace which it could never have dreamed of as long as the Assad regime was intact, because it has destroyed essentially all of Syria's radar capabilities.

IDF sources said that the Syrians still have no idea what they have lost in terms of potential threats to Israel and that it could take them a significant amount of time to decipher this, especially given that the Syrian army which was used to handling these weapons melted away last weekend.

In a broader sense, the IDF said that it had destroyed around 80% of Syria's larger-scale firepower.

At the same time, IDF sources admitted that this number could be overly optimistic as there may be firepower items which Syria concealed underground which the IDF did not find or succeed in striking.

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That said, the IDF said it had succeeded in identifying and striking a number of underground Syrian military targets.

Moreover, the IDF said that Syria now has only one still existing border crosspoint for potentially transferring weapons to Hezbollah, which means the Lebanese terror groups' rearming project will be much harder to accomplish.

This is in addition to the fact that most of Iran's presence has been removed from Syria out of fear of revenge from HTS, given that Iran fought on the side of the Assad regime since the Syrian civil war started in 2011.

IDF sources also said that there are signs that the HTS may completely expel Russia from Syria. Some observers have said that Moscow may try to renegotiate its presence under very different conditions, such that HTS would have real control of all of the territory and Russia would truly only serve as a guest helper if and when needed, but which retain some Russian foothold.

Besides Syria, the IDF said that prior to the November 26 ceasefire, it had eliminated basically all of Hezbollah's Drone Unit 127 leadership, which means that that unit cannot currently carry out any complex or coordinated attacks.

While the IDF has previously said it destroyed around 70-80% of Hezbollah's long-range and strategic weapons, in terms of its broader command structure, the percentage is said to be closer to 60-70% destroyed.