Israel’s defence minister says the country aims to establish a “sterile defence zone” in southern Syria after Israeli forces seized territory and unleashed a wave of air strikes on the country following the removal of President Bashar al-Assad.
Israeli troops in recent days have moved into the demilitarised zone inside Syria, including the Syrian side of the strategic Mount Hermon that overlooks Damascus, where it took over an abandoned Syrian military post.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday said he ordered Israel’s forces to create a “sterile defence zone” in southern Syria that would be enforced without a permanent Israeli presence.
Katz did not elaborate but said the zone would “prevent the establishment and organisation of terror in Syria”.
He also confirmed that the military had hit several Syrian naval vessels in overnight strikes.
“The [Israeli military] has been operating in Syria in recent days to strike and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the State of Israel. The navy operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet with great success,” Katz said during a visit to a naval base in the northern city of Haifa.
Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes targeting key military sites in Syria in recent days amid a security vacuum after opposition forces overthrew al-Assad.
In and around the capital, Damascus, strikes have targeted military installations, research centres and the electronic warfare administration.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a war monitor, said Israel had “destroyed the most important military sites in Syria, including Syrian airports and their warehouses, aircraft squadrons, radars, military signal stations, and many weapons and ammunition depots in various locations in most Syrian governorates”.
It carried out “about 300 air strikes on Syrian territory” over the last 48 hours with the aim of destroying the former regime’s military capabilities, according to SOHR.
Israel media, quoting a senior security source, described the attacks as the largest air operation carried out by its air force in its history.
Israel’s latest raids targeted three major airports – in Homs, Qamishli and Damascus – as well as weapons depots and other strategic military sites.
“Israel claims it is doing this because it is concerned that these strategic facilities and military equipment could fall into the hands of the opposition,” said Serdar.
There was no immediate reaction from Mohammed al-Bashir, who was appointed as the country’s caretaker prime minister on Tuesday by the Syrian fighters who toppled al-Assad.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a US Muslim group, blasted the US government for its continued support to Israel despite its escalating attacks in the region, saying the “Syrian people deserve to rebuild their country free from foreign occupation and violence”.
Israeli forces’ deployment in the buffer zone near the occupied Syrian Golan heights tramples on a 50-year ceasefire agreement with Syria, which established the buffer zone, according to United Nations peacekeepers.
Israel has taken the opportunity of Damascus being preoccupied with a change of regime to expand their presence in the Golan Heights and perhaps beyond”.
Israel “called it temporary, but we know the implications when Israel says temporary. “In the occupied West Bank, for example, it’s been almost six decades”.