CNN
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The collapse of the Assad regime has prompted a punishing army response from Israel, which has launched airstrikes at army targets throughout Syria and deployed floor troops each into and past a demilitarized buffer zone for the primary time in 50 years.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated throughout a uncommon press convention on Monday night that the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime was “a brand new and dramatic chapter.”
“The collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct results of the extreme blows with which we’ve got struck Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran,” he stated. “The axis has not but disappeared however as I promised – we’re altering the face of the Middle East.”
Israeli officers have reveled within the downfall of Assad, a staunch ally of Iran who allowed his nation for use as a resupply route for Hezbollah in Lebanon. But additionally they worry what may come from radical Islamists governing Syria, which borders Israel within the occupied Golan Heights.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar advised journalists on Monday that Israel was bombing Syrian army services housing chemical weapons shares and long-range missiles to forestall them from falling “into the fingers of extremists.”
“With regard to what might be sooner or later, I’m not a prophet,” he stated. “It is essential proper now to take all mandatory steps within the context of the safety of Israel.”
A CNN group in Damascus heard loud explosions all through the early hours on Tuesday, a continuation of strikes that started over the weekend. Voice of the Capital, a Syrian activist group, stated the in a single day bombing marketing campaign was “essentially the most violent in Damascus in 15 years.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated on Tuesday that the navy destroyed the Syrian naval fleet in a single day, hailing it as “an ideal success.” An AFP photographer confirmed giant scale destruction of army vessels on the Syrian naval port in Latakia.
Images taken by an AFP journalist at Mezzeh Air Base southwest of Damascus additionally confirmed destroyed Syrian army helicopters.
Meanwhile, a number of Arab states have accused Israel of exploiting instability in Syria to execute a land seize.
The Arab League, a grouping of Arab nations, stated Israel was “profiting from the developments within the inside state of affairs in Syria,” and Egypt stated its strikes “represent an exploitation of the state of fluidity and vacuum… to occupy extra Syrian territories.”
Nadav Shoshani, a spokesperson for the Israeli army, denied that forces have been “advancing towards” Damascus, however acknowledged they have been working in Syria past the buffer zone. The Israeli army has insisted that it “isn’t interfering with the interior occasions in Syria.”
Katz stated in an announcement on Monday that Israel was making a “safety zone freed from heavy strategic weapons and terrorist infrastructures” in southern Syria, “past the buffer zone.”
Voice of the Capital stated on Tuesday that Israeli forces had superior so far as Beqaasem, about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the Syrian capital and a number of other kilometers past the Syrian facet of the buffer zone. CNN couldn’t independently verify that declare, however the village lies within the Syrian foothills of Mount Hermon, which Israeli forces captured on Sunday. Mount Hermon is a strategic excessive level that sits on the border between Syria, Lebanon, and the Golan Heights.
Israeli floor forces entered Syrian territory after Netanyahu on Sunday ordered the army to grab that demilitarized “space of separation” between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the remainder of Syria. That zone was established in 1974, after Israeli forces – responding to a Syrian assault – captured the Golan Heights in 1967. Israel annexed the territory in 1981, however it’s nonetheless thought of to be occupied Syria underneath worldwide legislation.
Israeli officers have refused to provide particulars on how far Israeli forces will advance, or how lengthy they are going to keep there. Danny Dannon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, advised the Security Council in a letter on Monday that his nation had “deployed briefly in few factors.” He stated they have been “restricted and short-term measures to counter any additional menace to its residents.”
Eyad Kourdi and Dana Karni contributed to this report.
