Over the past 48 hours, following the collapse of the government of President Bashar al-Assad, the military said jets had conducted more than 350 strikes on targets including anti-aircraft batteries, military airfields, weapons production sites, combat aircraft and missiles.
In addition, missile vessels struck the Syrian naval facilities of Al-Bayda port and Latakia port, where 15 Syrian naval vessels were docked.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "If the new regime in Syria allows Iran to re-establish itself, or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah – we will respond forcefully and we will exact a heavy price." — Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) pic.twitter.com/B5UTGCXoGNDecember 10, 2024
Israeli officials said the strikes across Syria were aimed at destroying strategic weapons and military infrastructure to prevent them being used by rebel groups that drove Assad from power, some of which grew from movements linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
"We have no intention of interfering in Syria's internal affairs, but we clearly intend to do what is necessary to ensure our security," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
"I authorised the air force to bomb strategic military capabilities left by the Syrian army, so that they would not fall into the hands of the jihadists."
Following Assad's flight on Sunday, Israeli troops moved into the demilitarised zone inside Syria created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, including the Syrian side of the strategic Mount Hermon that overlooks Damascus, where it took over an abandoned Syrian military post.
A military spokesperson said Israeli troops remained in the buffer zone as well as "a few additional points" in the vicinity.
But he denied that forces had penetrated Syrian territory significantly beyond the area, after a Syrian source said they had reached the town of Qatana, several km (miles) to the east of the zone and just a short drive from Damascus airport.
"IDF forces are not advancing towards Damascus. This is not something we are doing or pursuing in any way," Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, the military spokesperson, told a briefing with reporters.
Israel, which has just agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon following weeks of fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement, calls the incursion into Syrian territory a limited and temporary measure to ensure border security.
But the scale of the Israeli strikes echoed a similar wave of attacks in southern Lebanon in September that destroyed a significant quantity of Hezbollah's missile stocks.
According to the Israeli military the strikes hit most of the strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria as well as production sites in the cities of Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra. Scud and cruise missiles as well as sea-to-sea missiles, drones, launchers and firing positions were destroyed, it said in a statement.
Strikes against military airfields and bases also destroyed Syrian military attack helicopters, fighter jets and tanks.
