JERUSALEM (AP) According to the foreign minister on Monday, Israel has targeted long-range missiles and suspected chemical weapons locations in Syria to keep them out of the hands of adversaries.
After almost 14 years of civil war, Syrian rebels overturned President Bashar Assad’s administration in Damascus over the weekend, sparking fears of a potential security void in the nation, which is still divided among armed groups, as well as expectations for a more peaceful future.
While applauding the overthrow of Assad, a crucial supporter of Iran and Lebanon’s armed Hezbollah party, Israelis are worried about what may happen next. Following the withdrawal of Syrian troops amid the confusion, Israel claims that its forces briefly took control of a 1974 agreement-based buffer zone within Syria.
Gideon Saar told reporters on Monday that the security of Israel and its people is our primary concern. To prevent them from falling into the hands of radicals, we struck strategic weapons systems, such as long-range missiles and rockets or the residual chemical weapons.
When and where the strikes occurred were not specified by Saar.
An Israeli soldier stands guard at a security fence near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Image courtesy of Matias Delacroix/Associated Press
Sunday airstrikes near the Mezzeh military airfield southwest of the city were reported by an Associated Press journalist in Damascus. Israeli airstrikes have hit the airport before, but the identity of the perpetrator of the most recent strike was not immediately known.
Israel has targeted what it claims are Iranian and Hezbollah military locations in Syria with hundreds of airstrikes in recent years. Regarding specific strikes, Israeli officials seldom ever comment.
In 2013, after the government was suspected of carrying out an attack near Damascus that killed hundreds of people, Syria agreed to surrender its chemical weapons stockpile. However, it is generally accepted that it retained some of the weapons and was charged with reusing them in later years.
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