Israel has struck more than 250 military targets in Syria, according to an Israeli radio military correspondent.
Following the rebels’ overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria, the Israel Defense Forces entered the buffer zone for the first time in 50 years and are conducting strikes to eliminate weapons that could be used against Israel.
On Monday, Doron Kadosh, a military correspondent for the Israeli radio station Galei Tzahal, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “Assad’s army: tanks, planes, helicopters, ships, air defense systems, missiles, military factories, intelligence facilities, and everything that the Syrian state’s army has held and built for decades” were being destroyed in the strikes.
While early reports said IDF tanks were approaching the Syrian capital, the organization told Newsweek in a statement: “The reports circulating in the media about the alleged advancement of Israeli tanks towards Damascus are false. IDF troops are stationed within the buffer zone, as stated in the past.”
The IDF’s strikes on December 8 hit missile storage sites, air defense systems, weapon production facilities and chemical weapons sites, the Times of Israel reported.
Newsweek contacted the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment via email.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a human rights organization in the U.K., reported that Israel had conducted more than 100 strikes in Syria and had targeted numerous weapons depots and military checkpoints.
The organization also reported that Israeli fighter jets conducted airstrikes overnight, aiming at ammunitions storage warehouses in Syrian provinces, including the air-defense battalions in Latakia province, the Baniyas area in Tartus province and positions of the 121st Brigade in Kanaker in Rif Dimashq.
Israeli fighter jets have also reportedly conducted strikes in Damascus and taken over observatories and military positions of the former regime near the Al-Sheikh Mountain.
אני לא יודע כמה זה תפס כותרות עד עכשיו בגל החדשות האינסופי שלנו, אבל למי שעדיין לא שם לב: ישראל מנהלת בשתי היממות האחרונות מבצע תקיפה אווירי חסר תקדים בעשורים האחרונים, להשמדת צבא של מדינה.
ביותר מ-250 תקיפות אוויריות, חיל האוויר משמיד את צבאו של אסד: טנקים, מטוסים, מסוקים,... pic.twitter.com/nkQZUYSndw
— דורון קדוש | Doron Kadosh (@Doron_Kadosh) December 9, 2024One of the Syrian sites Israel reportedly struck was a research center with suspected ties to chemical weapons production in the country’s capital.
The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, also reported that the Israeli Air Force was conducting strikes in Syria on December 9.
Defense Minister Israel Katz also said the military would “destroy heavy strategic weapons throughout Syria, including surface-to-air missiles, air defense systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range rockets, and coastal missiles,” as reported by Reuters.
In a previous statement about its deployment to the buffer zone, the IDF said: “In accordance with the situational assessment following the recent events in Syria, including the entry of armed personnel into the buffer zone, the IDF has deployed forces in the buffer zone and in several other places necessary for its defense, to ensure the safety of the communities of the Golan Heights and the citizens of Israel.
“We emphasize that the IDF is not interfering with the internal events in Syria. The IDF will continue to operate as long as necessary in order to preserve the buffer zone and defend Israel and its civilians.”