Israel appeared to be continuing its aerial campaign in Syria on Monday, targeting weaponry that Jerusalem feared could fall into the hands of hostile forces in light of the dramatic fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime on Sunday.
Two Syrian security sources said on Monday that Israeli planes bombed at least three major Syrian army air bases that housed dozens of helicopters and jets in the biggest such wave of strikes on air bases since Assad was toppled.
The strikes hit Qamishli air base in northeast Syria, Shinshar base in the countryside of Homs, and Aqrba airport southwest of the capital Damascus, the sources said.
The reports came after Israel Air Force strikes on Sunday hit advanced missile storage sites, air defense systems, weapon production facilities, and chemical weapons sites, and also took out planes, helicopters, and tanks that belonged to the Assad regime’s military.
The 50-year-old 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.
The number of strikes carried out by Israel on Syrian military infrastructure since Sunday is believed to lie at around 250.
Western intelligence sources believe that around 300 strikes have been carried out against Syrian military targets, the Ynet news site reported, adding that if the strikes continue at their current pace, officials believe the Syrian Air Force will be all but destroyed in a matter of days, ensuring that the rebel groups, and any future government, will not be able to threaten Israel from the air.
A Britain-based war monitor told AFP that Israel had conducted more than 100 airstrikes on military targets in Syria on Monday, including a research center Western countries suspected of having links to chemical weapons production in Damascus.
“Israeli warplanes launched over 100 strikes in Syria today, including on the Barzah scientific research center,” Rami Abdel Rahman who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP, reporting “increased Israeli strikes to destroy the former regime’s military capabilities.”
There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces on the Monday strikes.
SOHR, run by a single person, has regularly been accused by Syrian war analysts of false reporting and inflating casualty numbers as well as inventing them wholesale.
On Monday evening, three witnesses in Barzeh, north of Damascus, told Reuters that there were at least two explosions in the area, where the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre has an office.
The SSRC has been sanctioned and previously struck for its links to chemical weapons production under the Assad regime.
Al Jazeera also reported Israeli airstrikes targeting the Qabr Essit Airport south of Damascus, which was used by the ousted army for helicopters.
A short while earlier, reports in Syria claimed that the IAF had bombed the Latakia port, targeting naval assets belonging to the toppled regime.
Syrian media also reported Israeli strikes in Da’ara in southern Syria early on Monday, with unverified footage of the strikes posted to social media appearing to show secondary explosions, indicating that weapons were stored in the buildings targeted.
Defense sources told The Times of Israel on Sunday that dozens of IAF aircraft had struck numerous targets, with a focus on destroying “strategic weapons.”
The IDF also took up new positions in a buffer zone between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights on Sunday, as it prepared for potential chaos.
It marked the first time since the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement was signed following the Yom Kippur War that Israeli forces took up positions inside the buffer zone between Israel and Syria, though the IDF has entered the zone briefly on several occasions in the past.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon told the United Nations Security Council on Monday that the IDF had taken “limited and temporary measures” in a demilitarized strip bordering Syria to counter any threats, particularly to residents of the Golan Heights.
“It is important to emphasize, however, that Israel is not intervening in the ongoing conflict between Syrian armed groups; our actions are solely focused on safeguarding our security,” he wrote in a letter to the 15-member council, adding that Israel remained committed to the framework of a 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement.
The United States was also taking advantage of the new reality in Syria, carrying out dozens of strikes on Islamic State targets in central Syria on Sunday.
American warplanes struck more than 75 Islamic State targets hitting the group’s leaders, operatives and camps, the US military said.
The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family, after a sudden rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered the capital in 10 days.
Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against Assad’s rule, dragged in major outside powers, created space for jihadist militants to plot attacks around the world, and sent millions of refugees into neighboring states.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the strongest rebel group, is the former al Qaeda affiliate in Syria regarded by the US and others as a terrorist organization, and many Syrians remain fearful it will impose draconian Islamist rule.
HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has tried to reassure minorities that he will not interfere with them and the international community that he opposes Islamist attacks abroad. In Aleppo, which the rebels captured a week ago, there have not been reports of reprisals.
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