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Israel’s defense minister says the country aims to establish a
“sterile defense zone” in southern Syria after Israeli forces seized
territory and unleashed a wave of air strikes on the country following
the removal of President Bashar al-Assad.

Israeli troops in recent days have moved into the demilitarized zone
inside Syria, including the Syrian side of the strategic Mount Hermon
that overlooks Damascus, where it took over an abandoned Syrian
military post.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday said he ordered
Israel’s forces to create a “sterile defense zone” in southern Syria
that would be enforced without a permanent Israeli presence.

Katz did not elaborate but said the zone would “prevent the
establishment and organization of terror in Syria”.

He also confirmed that the military had hit several Syrian naval
vessels in overnight strikes.

“The [Israeli military] has been operating in Syria in recent days to
strike and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the State of
Israel. The navy operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet with
great success,” Katz said during a visit to a naval base in the
northern city of Haifa.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes targeting key military
sites in Syria in recent days amid a security vacuum after opposition
forces overthrew al-Assad.

In and around the capital, Damascus, strikes have targeted military installations, research centers and the electronic warfare
administration.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a war monitor, said
Israel had “destroyed the most important military sites in Syria,
including Syrian airports and their warehouses, aircraft squadrons,
radars, military signal stations, and many weapons and ammunition
depots in various locations in most Syrian governorships”.

It carried out “about 250 air strikes on Syrian territory” over the
last 48 hours with the aim of destroying the former regime’s military capabilities, according to SOHR.

Israel media, quoting a senior security source, described the attacks
as the largest air operation carried out by its air force in its
history.

“Israel’s attacks on Syria are systematic,” said Al Jazeera’s Resul
Serdar, reporting from Damascus. “They are aiming to destroy Syria’s
defense bases”.

Serdar said Israel’s latest raids targeted three major airports – in
Homs, Qamishli and Damascus – as well as weapons depots and other
strategic military sites.

“Israel claims it is doing this because it is concerned that these
strategic facilities and military equipment could fall into the hands
of the opposition,” said Serdar.

There was no immediate reaction from Mohammed al-Bashir, who was
appointed as the country’s caretaker prime minister on Tuesday by the
Syrian fighters who toppled al-Assad.

Israeli forces’ deployment in the buffer zone near the occupied Syrian
Golan heights tramples on a 50-year ceasefire agreement with Syria,
which established the buffer zone, according to United Nations
peacekeepers.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said “Israel has
taken the opportunity of Damascus being preoccupied with a change of
regime to expand their presence in the Golan Heights and perhaps
beyond”.

Israel “called it temporary, but we know the implications when Israel
says temporary,” Bishara said. “In the occupied West Bank, for
example, it’s been almost six decades”.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/10/barrage-of-israeli-attacks-destroys-important-military-sites-in-syria


The comparison's to Hitler's Germany become more apparent each passing
day. History will look back and ask "Why was nothing done when the
Free World had the chance to stop the Israelis from Holocausting the
Arab world

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