Following a major 48-hour bombing campaign in Syria, the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday said it had destroyed most of the former Bashar al-Assad regime’s strategic military capabilities, in an effort to prevent advanced weaponry from falling into the hands of hostile elements.
In a statement, the IDF said that its Air Force and Navy had carried out over 350 strikes against “strategic targets” in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime over the weekend, taking out “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria.”
The military estimated that it had destroyed 70-80 percent of the former Assad regime’s strategic military capabilities.
The operation was dubbed “Bashan Arrow” within the military, after the biblical name for the Golan Heights and southern Syria region.
The IDF released footage from the campaign, during which it said over 320 targets were struck across all of Syria.
The strikes began late Saturday, first taking out Syrian air defenses to give the Israeli Air Force more freedom.
Wave after wave of airstrikes carried out by IAF fighter jets and drones then hit Syrian airbases, weapon depots and weapon production sites in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra, according to the military.
The military said the airstrikes destroyed many long-range projectiles, Scud missiles, cruise missiles, coast-to-sea missiles, air defense missiles, fighter jets, helicopters, radars, tanks, hangars and more.
The IAF also targeted several chemical weapons sites in Syria during the waves of strikes, Israeli officials have said.
Meanwhile, on Monday night, Israeli Navy missile boats destroyed 15 naval vessels belonging to the former regime at the Minet el-Beida bay and Latakia port on the Syrian coast, the military said.
The Assad regime, which fell on Sunday after a lightning offensive by rebel forces, was an ally of the Iranian regime, and a part of its so-called Axis of Resistance against Israel.
For many years, Syria was used as a throughway for Iranian weapons, en route to terror groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon, with which Israel entered a shaky ceasefire last month.
Israel feared that following the collapse of the Assad regime, the former Syrian army’s weapons could fall into the hands of hostile forces in the country, as well as the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In a message to the new regime taking shape in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel would seek to establish relations, but wouldn’t hesitate to attack if it threatens the Jewish state.
“We have no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of Syria,” he said in a video statement, “but we certainly do intend to do what is necessary to ensure our security.”
Hence, he said, the Israeli Air Force was bombing “military strategic capabilities” left by the Syrian Army of the ousted Assad regime, “so that they won’t fall into the hands of the jihadists.”
“We want correct relations with the new regime in Syria,” he went on. “But if this regime allows Iran to reestablish itself 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.”
“What happened to the previous regime will also happen to this regime,” he warned.
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