After carrying out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military targets and seizing positions including a mountaintop overlooking the capital Damascus, Israel appears to be seizing what it sees as a unique opportunity.
Syria’s command structures were in disarray, and key positions appeared to be understaffed after the fall of the Assad regime.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says its air force and navy have carried out more than 350 strikes since Saturday night, taking out an estimated 70-80% of Syrian strategic military assets from Damascus to Latakia.
They included fighter jets, radar sites and air defense facilities, naval ships, as well as weapons stocks, according to the IDF.
“The navy operated last night to destroy the Syrian navy with great success,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
The IDF has also moved ground forces east of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights into the demilitarized buffer zone in Syria and, it now admits, a bit further.
Katz said he ordered the military to “establish a sterile defense zone free of weapons and terrorist threats in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence.”
