Nearly a week after the Bashar al-Assad regime’s collapse, the Israeli military reportedly kept up the strategic bombing of Syria’s military assets.
In an overnight raid, Israeli fighter jets struck the Syrian port city of Tartus, home to the former regime’s strategic military arsenal and a Russian naval base, the Israeli media reported Monday morning. After the fall of the Assad regime, Russia has shown no sign of vacating the Mediterranean naval base.
“Latest raids said to hit sites including air defense units and surface-to-surface missile depots,” The Times of Israel reported Monday. These were the “heaviest strikes in Syria’s coastal region since 2012,” the news website reported, quoting Syrian sources.
A video posted on X shows a huge mushroom cloud and massive secondary explosions on the outskirts of the port city, suggesting that the airstrike hit a large weapons depot or stockpile.
The Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported the alleged Israeli nighttime strikes:
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the Israel Defense Forces launched massive attacks early Monday on the coastal Tartus region, in the largest attack witnessed since the beginning of the civil war 12 years ago.The strikes, which began late Sunday, targeted weapons depots and air defenses.Israel has stated that military operations in Syria have been undertaken to destroy weapons stores of the Assad regime, taking the opportunity to eliminate them after the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad.Despite Syrian rebel leaders speaking against the strikes, the IDF said it will not allow these weapons, which include chemical and biological weapons, from reaching the hands of jihadists.
Last week, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) hit targets in Tartus and other Syrian port cities, destroying docked warships and weapons factories. Since early last week, Israel has conducted hundreds of airstrikes aimed at destroying Syria’s strategic military capabilities before Islamic and other rebel factions can get hold of them. The IAF is also targeting the former regime’s chemical weapons production facilities and stockpiles.
The Israeli air defense array on Monday intercepted a Houthi missile over Tel Aviv. Sirens were sounded across central Israel, and the Ben Gurion Airport was temporarily shut down due to incoming projectiles and falling debris.
Since October 7, the Iran-backed Islamic terrorist group has fired hundreds of missiles, including ballistics ones, at Israel. The jihadist group has tried to enforce a maritime blockade against Israel in the Red Sea, sinking and hijacking Western-owned commercial ships.
The Israeli news website YNET reported:
Air raid sirens blared across central Israel Monday afternoon, stretching from the Shfela region to the Sharon area, as the Israeli Air Force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen. The alarms were triggered due to concerns over falling interceptor debris.Following the alerts, operations at Ben Gurion Airport were temporarily halted, including all takeoffs and landings. Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service, reported no injuries or damage as of yet.The missile launch coincided with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony at the Tel Aviv District Court, which continued uninterrupted as the courtroom is located in a protected space. Netanyahu’s scheduled court appearance on Tuesday has been canceled, citing “security matters.”
The IDF continued the counter-terrorism operation against the terrorist group Hamas, destroying a jihadist commander center and training base set up inside a Humanitarian zone in southern Gaza. The terrorist base is operating in a former United Nations school, the Israeli military revealed.
On Friday, Israeli fight jets “conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating inside a command and control center embedded within a compound that previously served as the UNRWA “Sheikh Jamil School” also known as the “Ahmed Abdul Aziz School” in the Humanitarian area in Khan Yunis,” the IDF announced Saturday.
“The command and control center included a training compound from which the Hamas terrorists planned to execute terrorist activities against IDF troops and advanced terrorist activities against the State of Israel,” the military disclosed. “The terrorists operated from a structure that previously served as a school, which is yet another example of how the terrorist organization systematically operates within civilian population.”
While Hamas yet again used Gaza civilians as human shields by setting up the terror base in a humanitarian area, Israel took painstaking measures to ensure the safety of residents in the vicinity. “Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, precise aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the military assured.
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