By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

Chaos Breaks Out

The collapse of the Assad regime has prompted a punishing military response from Israel, which has launched airstrikes at military targets across Syria and deployed ground troops both into and beyond a demilitarized buffer zone for the first time in 50 years.

The Israeli military on Tuesday said it had carried out about 480 strikes across the country over the past two days, hitting most of Syria’s strategic weapon stockpiles, while Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli navy had destroyed the Syrian fleet overnight, hailing the operation as “a great success.”

Just a day earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had hailed the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime as “a new and dramatic chapter.”

“The collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct result of the severe blows with which we have struck Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran,” he said during a rare press conference Monday. “The axis has not yet disappeared but as I promised – we are changing the face of the Middle East.”

Israeli officials have reveled in the downfall of Assad, a staunch ally of Iran who allowed his country to be used as a resupply route for Hezbollah in Lebanon. But they also fear what could come from radical Islamists governing Syria, which borders Israel in the occupied Golan Heights.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told journalists on Monday that Israel was bombing Syrian military facilities housing chemical weapons stocks and long-range missiles to prevent them from falling “into the hands of extremists.”

“About what will be in the future, I’m not a prophet,” he said. “It is important right now to take all necessary steps in the context of the security of Israel.”

Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes in Damascus on December 10. Omar Haj Kadour

People in Damascus reported loud explosions throughout the early hours of Tuesday, a continuation of strikes that began over the weekend. And reported that the overnight bombing campaign was the most violent in Damascus in 15 years.

Of the 480 strikes carried out by the Israeli Air Force, about 350 were manned aircraft strikes targeting airfields, anti-aircraft batteries, missiles, drones, fighter jets, tanks and weapon production sites in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The rest of the strikes were in support of ground operations that targeted weapons depots, military structures, launchers and firing positions.

The IDF also said its ships struck two Syrian naval facilities, where 15 vessels were docked. Dozens of sea-to-sea missiles were said to have been destroyed.

Images captured by AFP photographers showed large-scale destruction of military vessels at the Syrian naval port in Latakia and destroyed Syrian military helicopters at the Mezzeh Air Base southwest of Damascus.

Israel has confirmed it carried out attacks on Syria's naval fleet, as part of its efforts to neutralize military assets in the country after the fall of the Assad regime.

Israel's defence minister said the Syrian fleet was attacked overnight

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its ships struck the ports at Al-Bayda and Latakia on Monday night, where 15 vessels were docked.

The BBC has verified videos showing blasts at the port of Latakia, with footage appearing to show extensive damage to ships and parts of the port.

The IDF also said its warplanes had conducted more than 350 airstrikes on targets across Syria while moving ground forces into the demilitarized buffer zone between Syria and the occupied Golan Heights.

 

The New Regime in Syria?

Syrian migrants arrive at the Cilvegozu border gate to cross into Syria, after Syrian rebels announced that they have ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in the Turkish town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, Turkey, December 10, 2024.

In the last hour, we've heard from the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, who warns new Syrian authorities “have to look in their own backyard” if they are “genuine about making a new start”.

It's positive that the new government is committed to bringing to justice perpetrators of violence over recent years, Ben Saul says, but adds "Justice must be blind".

"It must bring to account anybody who committed violations, which includes HTS itself and other rebel forces and armed groups," 

He says "a whole new justice system" must be built in Syria, after judges and courts were captured by the Assad regime.

"We don't know what that's going to look like," Saul says, suggesting it could involve Islamic law or include international assistance.

 

Syrian refugees returning to Syria

·         Turkey hosts more than 3 million Syrian migrants

·         Turkish President says a goal is their voluntary, safe, return

·         Turkey says it wants Syrians to determine their future

 

Syrians walking home through the Cilvegözü Border Gate on the Turkey-Syria border

Families going home through the eastern Lebanese border crossing of Masnaa

 

Iran's support for the fallen Assad regime

Iran and Syria have been allies since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979 and Syria reinforced the alliance by backing Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

 

Turkey

On Monday, Turkish President Erdogan highlighted the goal of "voluntary, safe, dignified, and regular returns" as Syria stabilises.

The Yayladagi crossing close to the northwest edge of Syria had been closed since 2013 due to nearby fighting.

NATO member Turkey controls swathes of land in northern Syria after several cross-border incursions against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara sees as a terrorist group tied to PKK militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.

Turkey said on Sunday that it wanted the new Syrian administration to be inclusive and for Syrians to determine their future.

During the Syrian civil war, Iran is believed to have deployed hundreds of troops and spent billions of dollars to help Assad.

Thousands of Shia Muslim fighters armed, trained, and financed by Iran - mostly from the Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement, but also from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen - have also fought alongside the Syrian army.

But more recently, Iran-backed Hezbollah was weakened by conflict with Israel in Lebanon, likely hastening the downfall of the Syrian military although Tehran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, today has blamed the toppling of Assad's regime on the US and Israel.

 

Syrian rebels say they have taken Deir Ezzor from Kurdish forces

Military Operations Command, the rebel coalition consisting of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has taken the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor from the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

“We announce the city of Deir Ezzor and its military airport as completely liberated,” Military Operations Command spokesperson Hassan Abdul Ghani said.

However, an SDF source told CNN that the Kurdish forces have withdrawn only from the western bank of the Euphrates in Deir Ezzor city, where they had recently advanced. The SDF took control of the portion of the city east of the Euphrates in 2017 after ISIS was driven out.

Video geolocated by CNN shows camo-clad men outside the provincial administrative building in the city. At least two of the men appear to be armed and wearing body armor. Before the camera pans across the facade of the government building — emblazoned with the former Syrian regime flag — an armored vehicle and two additional trucks can be seen.

The city is the capital of the governorate of the same name, which is home to oil and wheat fields.

 

Conclusion For Now

• Syria’s new transitional Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir says one of his first goals is to “bring back the millions of Syrian refugees who are abroad”.
• Israel’s military says it has carried out 480 attacks on Syria in the past 48 hours, destroying 15 naval vessels, anti-aircraft batteries and weapons production sites in several cities.

 

 

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