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Israel has taken out "most of” Syria's strategic weapons arsenal, preventing them from falling into the hands of jihadists, the IDF announced on Tuesday night.
Regional security sources and officers within the now-fallen Syrian army who spoke to Reuters said there was “nothing left” of the army’s assets.
The IDF confirmed earlier reports that the Israeli Air Force had conducted more than 350 aerial strikes, with hundreds of hours of flight time logged over Syrian airspace.
The targets included anti-aircraft batteries, Syrian Air Force airfields and dozens of weapons production sites in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra.
Strategic weapons were neutralised, including Scud tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, surface-to-sea, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, drones, fighter jets, attack helicopters, radar systems, tanks and hangars.
The IDF has named the large-scale operation "Arrow of Bashan".
On Monday night, Israeli Navy missile ships attacked two Syrian Navy facilities simultaneously: Al-Bayda Port and Latakia Port, where 15 Syrian naval vessels were docked.
During the maritime operation, dozens of sea-to-sea missiles with ranges of 80 to 190 kilometres (50 to 120 miles) and carrying heavy explosive payloads were destroyed.
In addition, the IDF Northern Command's Fire Control Centre conducted airstrikes against 130 enemy assets in Syria, including weapons depots, military structures, launchers and firing positions.
The hundreds of strikes marked the heaviest air campaign against Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
It is believed that the Syrian Air Force could be destroyed in its entirety “within a few days”, Ynet reported, which would substantially reduce the threat posed to the Jewish state by the incoming Syrian government.
The last time Israel destroyed an entire air force was in 1967, when the Egyptian Air Force was wiped out in the first hours of the Six-Day War.
Assad fled Damascus on Sunday as a coalition of rebel groups stormed the capital, ending his family’s five-decade rule.
“The tyrant Bashar Assad has been overthrown,” a rebel spokesperson declared in a statement carried on state television on Sunday morning.
Defence Minister Israel Katz warned on Tuesday that any entity threatening Israel’s security would face dire consequences.
Speaking at a naval base in Haifa, Katz revealed that Israeli forces had destroyed Syria’s navy.
“The IDF has acted in recent days to attack and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the State of Israel,” Katz said, cautioning rebels that “whoever follows in Assad’s footsteps will end up like Assad did.” He emphasised Israel’s resolve to prevent any “extremist Islamic terror entity” from operating against it.
Katz also announced the establishment of a temporary demilitarised zone beyond the buffer zone Israel has taken over in the border area. This “sterile defensive zone” in southern Syria aims to prevent terrorist threats.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned during a meeting at the headquarters of the Israel Defence Forces in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that if the new Syrian jihadist regime befriends Iran, Israel will take decisive action against it.
“If this regime allows Iran to regain its foothold in Syria, or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons or any other weapons to Hezbollah, or attacks us, we will respond forcefully and we will exact a heavy price from it,” Netanyahu said. “What happened to the previous regime will happen to this regime as well.”
Israel has no intention of interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, the prime minister said, but would take action it deemed necessary for its security.
In this context, he said he had authorised the Israeli Air Force to bomb “strategic military capabilities left by the Syrian army so that they would not fall into the hands of the jihadists”.
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