Israel strikes missile depots, air defences in Syria’s Tartous region
“The explosions in Tartous were extremely loud,” said Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from the Syrian capital, Damascus. “Some experts are saying that might probably mean it was a chemical weapons production house.”
The targeting of Tartous was “important”, given its role as a base for Syrian naval forces, he said, adding that the Israeli military had obliterated “a complete fleet” just three days before.
Overnight, Israel also bombed sites in and around Damascus, particularly around the Qasioun mountain, hitting “radar systems” and “air defence systems”, according to Serdar.
The overnight raids in Tartous and Damascus marked the latest stage of an ongoing Israeli campaign that has seen the military pummel the country with about 600 strikes in the eight days since the fall of al-Assad.
“Israel is pursuing a strategy of diminishing this country’s air defence capability and also its air forces,” said Serdar.
In parallel, Israeli troops have entered a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, violating a 1974 armistice agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has also announced plans to increase the number of settlers in the Golan Heights, which it has illegally occupied since 1967.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, the de facto head of Syria’s new administration, has said the country is in no position to enter any conflict “because there is general exhaustion in Syria”.
Separately, Syria’s Kurds, who run a semiautonomous administration in the northeast, called for “a stop to military operations over the entire Syrian territory in order to begin a constructive, comprehensive national dialogue”. In a statement at a news conference in Raqa on Monday, the administration also extended a hand to the new authorities in Damascus.
International outreach
Amid attacks from Israel, the new administration has been making strides with international “recognition”, said Al Jazeera’s Serdar, alluding to the opening of embassies by Turkiye and Qatar, and recent contact with US and UK officials.
