Israel reportedly conducted dozens of overnight airstrikes in Syria, destroying the ousted regime’s strategic military assets amid concerns that they could fall into the hands of various Islamic groups, Syrian media sources claimed Sunday.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Syrian sources say “that overnight Israel has carried out 61 airstrikes across Syria.” The targeted sites “were missile depots and air defense systems,” the daily added.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not comment on the overnight strikes in Syria. Media reports suggest that Israel has destroyed 80-90 percent of the ex-regime’s strategic firepower in waves of air raids since Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia last weekend.
The latest wave of alleged Israeli strikes come as country’s Defense Minister Israel Katz warned of “growing threats” from neighboring Syria amid ongoing power tussle between Islamist and other armed groups in a post-Assad era.
The Times of Israel reported Sunday:
Defense Minister Israel Katz says that the defense budget must be increased “in the face of growing threats,” citing the recent developments in Syria with the ousting of president Bashar al-Assad by Islamist forces.“Israel must be able to defend itself, on its own, against any threat,” Katz tells the Nagel Committee, which examines defense spending and the design of military forces for the future, according to a ministry statement.“The immediate risks to the country have not disappeared and the recent developments in Syria are increasing the intensity of the threat, despite the the rebel leaders seeking to present a semblance of moderation,” Katz says.
Meanwhile, the IDF has been working to secure a buffer zone across the Israeli border in the northern Golan Heights and the Mount Hermon region. On Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, assured that Israel was “not intervening in what is happening in Syria and had “no intention of managing” the conflict-ridden country.
The military was setting up a buffer zone with the sole purpose of preventing “terrorist elements from establishing themselves” in the area, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said.
“We’ve been here for almost a week, the main reason is the security of the country,” the military chief said while touring the IDF’s northern command. ” We are here to defend along the border in the Golan Heights, northern Golan Heights, and Mount Hermon.”
“There was a country here that was an enemy state, its army collapsed, and there is a threat that terrorist elements could reach here,” he explained. “We moved forward so that these terrorist elements will not establish themselves — extremist terrorists will not establish themselves right next to the border.”
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