Israel attacks Syria's chemical weapons and sends troops to the buffer zone

Israel said it had attacked chemical weapons stockpiles and that Israeli troops had crossed into Syrian territory for the first time in 50 years after an Islamist rebel force captured Damascus and toppled President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday.

Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, told reporters that Israel had targeted Syria’s “strategic weapons systems,” including stockpiles of chemical weapons and long-range missiles and rockets, “so that they do not fall into the hands of extremists.”

The attacks came after the Syrian Islamist movement Hayat Tahrir al-Sham mounted an extraordinary march from its base in the northwest and captured Damascus in less than two weeks, reportedly sending Assad into exile in Russia.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would “destroy heavy strategic weapons across Syria, including surface-to-air missiles, air defense systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range missiles and coastal missiles.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said he had ordered troops from the Golan Heights into Syrian territory, where they had taken positions abandoned by the Syrian military “to ensure that no enemy force establishes itself directly on the border with Israel,” he said. (Golan was annexed by Israel and is considered occupied Syrian territory by most of the world.)

Netanyahu called the incursion a “temporary defensive position until a suitable agreement is found.”

The New York Times reported that U.S. spy agencies are closely monitoring chemical weapons storage facilities in Syria to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

Israel and Iran are vying to strengthen ties with Syrian rebels

This weekend’s sudden fall of the Assad regime, long backed by Iran and allied with its proxy forces in the region, was a welcome development for Netanyahu.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel force and former al-Qaeda affiliate, captured Damascus on Saturday evening. It came at a time when Iran and other Assad allies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, were weakened by more than a year of fighting with Israel.

More:From Ophthalmologist to Brutal Dictator: The Rise (and Fall) of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad

Both Israel and Iran are already trying to establish friendly relations with the rebels who are suddenly at the helm of Syria.

“We send a hand of peace to everyone across our border in Syria,” Netanyahu said. “We will follow events very closely so that we can build neighborly relations and peaceful relations with the new forces that are emerging in Syria.”

Iran is also in contact with Syria’s new leadership, hoping to lay the foundation for a diplomatic relationship, Iranian officials told Reuters.

“Iran’s biggest concern is whether Assad’s successor will push Syria out of Tehran’s sphere of influence,” an official said. “This is a scenario that Iran wants to avoid at all costs.”

Hezbollah forces, which had maintained a constant presence in Syria to defend the Assad regime, began withdrawing last year as the group’s conflict with Israel raged in Lebanon. Dozens of elite Hezbollah fighters fled Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, as rebel forces approached.

Hassan Fadlallah, a member of the Lebanese parliament representing Hezbollah, called the new developments in Syria “a major, dangerous and new transformation.”

Iran and other Syrian allies have been weakened by the war with Israel

Israel has bombarded both the Gaza Strip and large parts of Lebanon since Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel on October 7 last year, killing 1,200 Israelis and exploding tensions in the region. More than 43,000 Palestinians have died in the ongoing Gaza war, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

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Israel attacks Syria’s chemical weapons and sends troops to the buffer zone

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