(OPINION) While radical Sunni militants were conquering Damascus, Israel was conducting an absolutely massive bombing campaign inside Syria that is unlike anything we have seen before.
The IDF is telling us that more than 350 targets were hit. Basically the goal was to destroy as much military hardware as possible so that it would not fall into the hands of the militants.
The Israelis were concerned that the militants might use the military hardware that they inherited against them, and so they took pre-emptive action. Unfortunately, the militants are now steaming mad, and some of them are already publicly threatening Israel.
Syria never had a large navy to begin with, but now it has been completely neutralized. According to the BBC, Israeli naval forces “struck the ports at Al-Bayda and Latakia on Monday night”…
Israel has confirmed it carried out attacks on Syria’s naval fleet, as part of its efforts to neutralise military assets in the country after the fall of the Assad regime.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its ships struck the ports at Al-Bayda and Latakia on Monday night, where 15 vessels were docked.
The BBC has verified videos showing blasts at the port of Latakia, with footage appearing to show extensive damage to ships and parts of the port.
The goal of the operation was to destroy the entire Syrian Navy, and we are being told that the operation was successful…
Israeli missile ships destroyed the Syrian military fleet in an operation on Monday night as part of a broad campaign to eliminate strategic threats, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday in Haifa.
It is also being reported that Israel conducted extensive strikes on the largest airbases in Syria.
According to one report, “dozens of helicopters and fighter jets have been destroyed”…
Israel has hit Syria’s largest airbases, the Al Arabiya television channel said, citing two sources in Syria’s defense sector.
“Israel has delivered strikes on the largest airbases in Syria,” the sources said, adding that airfield “infrastructure and dozens of helicopters and fighter jets have been destroyed.”
The Syrian Air Force has been crippled for the foreseeable future, and this will be a major advantage for the IDF if a full-blown conflict with the new regime suddenly erupts.
The IDF also targeted sites where it was suspected that chemical weapons and ballistic missiles were being developed.
Essentially, the Israelis wanted to wipe the slate clean as much as possible. So just about every site that had strategic importance got hit.
In addition, the IDF has created a “buffer zone” in southern Syria in order to keep the rebels from storming the Israeli border. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that this “buffer zone” is just a “temporary defensive position”…
The IDF seizure of Syrian positions in the buffer zone was a “temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
“If we can establish neighbourly relations and peaceful relations with the new forces emerging in Syria, that’s our desire. But if we do not, we will do whatever it takes to defend the State of Israel and the border of Israel,” he said on Monday.
Of course ,others see this move by Israel very differently.
According to the Times of Israel, a news outlet that is aligned with Hezbollah is alleging that Israeli forces have moved well beyond the reported “buffer zone”…
The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen news outlet reports that Israeli tanks have advanced beyond the boundaries of the Golan Heights buffer zone in Syria that it moved troops into earlier this week.
According to the unverified report from the Lebanese outlet, the tanks progressed past the abandoned buffer zone town of Qunaitra before stopping near Qatana, a southern Syria city just over 21 kilometers away from the capital city of Damascus.
The report further that Israeli troops also entered several villages on the outskirts of Damascus. (READ MORE)
