LONDON: Israeli jets have reportedly carried out hundreds of airstrikes on “strategic weapons systems” across Syria since the fall of the Assad regime.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that it has documented more than 310 strikes by the IDF since Sunday.
The strikes have targeted military facilities of the Syrian Army, including weapon warehouses, ammunition depots, airports, naval bases and research centers.
Israel claimed its actions aim to prevent weapons falling “into the hands of extremists” as Syria transitions into a post-Assad era.
The SOHR reported that the attacks spanned Aleppo, Damascus and Hama, with more than 60 taking place overnight between Monday and Tuesday alone.
Reports said that many of the facilities hit have not merely been damaged, but completely destroyed.
Rami Abdul Rahman, SOHR’s founder, described the impact of the strikes as destroying “all the capabilities of the Syrian army” and said that “Syrian lands are being violated.”
The IDF denied that its troops had strayed into Syrian territory and said that reports of tanks near Damascus are “false.”
A spokesperson said: “IDF troops are stationed within the buffer zone, as stated in the past.”
The IDF seized Syrian positions in the buffer zone as a “temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“If we can establish neighborly 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.
Asked about the IDF strikes on Monday night, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that Israel is only concerned with defending its citizens.
“That’s why we attack strategic weapons systems like, for example, remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall into the hands of extremists,” he added.
It is not known where or how many chemical weapons Syria has, but it is believed that former president Bashar Assad kept stockpiles.
Israel’s attacks come after Syrian rebel fighters captured the capital, Damascus, and toppled the Assad regime over the weekend. He and his father had been in power in the country since 1971.
Forces led by the Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham entered Damascus in the early hours of Sunday, before appearing on state television to declare that Syria was now “free.”
