Israeli strikes destroy Syria’s weapons of war as ousted Assad laments country’s fall into “hands of terrorism”

Damascus — A CBS Information staff drove by a Syrian navy airbase on the outskirts of capital metropolis Damascus Monday, and the devastation brought on by Israeli air strikes was abundantly clear. Israel has mentioned it’s decided to destroy weapons and different navy {hardware} that ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad and his father spent half of a century accumulating, earlier than it may possibly fall into the arms of extremists.

The Israeli navy has pounded Syrian navy infrastructure relentlessly since Assad fled to Russia earlier this month — compelled out by a shock insurgent offensive after a decade of civil struggle that had, till about two weeks in the past, largely floor to an obvious stalemate.

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The harm inflicted on Assad’s outdated struggle machine has been staggering. One strike in a single day within the coastal metropolis of Tartus, for example, was so huge that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group quoted a scientist in Turkey as saying it had registered on the Richter scale because the equal of a category-3 earthquake.

Till Moscow’s ally Assad fled from Syria, Russia maintained its solely main naval base exterior of Russian territory in Tartus. Satellite tv for pc imagery (under) confirmed many of the Russian ships disappearing from the Tartus port shortly after Assad fell, however the Russian Ministry of Protection mentioned Monday that it was nonetheless determining what to do about its navy {hardware} and personnel within the nation, in talks with the nation’s new de-facto insurgent rulers.

Israel’s navy, in the meantime, says it has laid waste to most of Assad’s heavy weapons and air defenses. In a press release on Monday, the Israel Protection Forces mentioned that in latest days its fighter jets had “inflicted extreme harm on Syria’s most strategic weapons: fighter jets and helicopters, Scud missiles, UAVs, cruise missiles, surface-to-sea precision-guided missiles, surface-to-air missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, radars, rockets, and extra.”

The IDF mentioned its strikes had destroyed “over 90% of the recognized strategic surface-to-air missiles” of the ousted regime.

The lightning takeover of Syria one week in the past by the insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al Sham, or HTS, has additionally seen Israeli forces perform a land incursion that stretches previous the occupied Golan Heights area right into a beforehand demilitarized buffer zone inside Syria.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, the top of HTS and Syria’s new de-facto chief, has criticized what he described as Israel’s “uncalculated navy adventures,” and mentioned he and his group — which, earlier than publicly distancing itself from extremist ideology was an al-Qaeda affiliate — was extra fascinated with state-building than opening one other battle with Israel.

The focusing on of Syria’s navy websites has additionally revealed deep neglect by Assad. Years of corruption and a decade of civil struggle had hollowed out the nation’s armed forces, contributing to his regime’s collapse. A lot of the {hardware} left behind by his forces once they surrendered to the rebels or just shed their uniforms and ran away is outdated and clearly missing upkeep.

Assad’s workplace issued the primary assertion attributed to the deposed chief since he was compelled to flee from his nation, in the meantime. In it, he claims he by no means thought of resigning nor fleeing, however that he took shelter within the Russian-run air base at Hmeimim because the rebels closed in, and when that facility got here underneath a sustained drone assault, he says an evacuation was ordered on Dec. 8, the day after the HTS rebels took the capital Damascus.

He mentioned he finally left for Russia as there was nothing else he may do in Syria, lamenting the nation’s fall “into the arms of terrorism.”

The assertion was posted to the Syrian Presidency’s official channel on the Telegram messaging app, with a be aware saying it had been posted after a number of unsuccessful makes an attempt to launch it by Arabic and worldwide media shops. The assertion was deleted comparatively shortly from the Telegram channel, nonetheless, with none rationalization, earlier than reappearing there and on the presidency’s Fb web page.

Whereas the broader worldwide group continues to be attempting to determine find out how to take care of HTS, which has mentioned it would respect Syrians all of religions and seems decided to be seen as a secular interim administration — although it has not mentioned what’s going to come subsequent for the nation after a three-month transitional interval — Israel and the U.S. have remained targeted largely on securing Assad’s stockpiled weapons.

For Israel, that has meant probably the most ferocious airstrikes carried out in Syria in years, they usually continued on Monday, simply over per week after Assad’s sudden departure.

Whoever does find yourself in charge of Syria will inherit a navy infrastructure largely in tatters. Judging by the IDF’s assertion on Monday, claiming its strikes amounted to “a major achievement for the Israeli Air Power’s superiority within the area,” that could possibly be precisely as meant.