Israel attacks missile depots, air defenses in Tartous region of Syria | Syrian War News

Israel has launched overnight attacks on Syrian air defenses and ammunition depots in its ongoing effort to cripple the country’s military following the recent ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.

The war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), said on Monday that Israel targeted military sites in Syria’s coastal region of Tartous, including air defense facilities and “underground missile sites”, saying the attack marked the “heaviest strikes” in the area in more than a year. ten years.

“The explosion in Tartous was very loud,” said Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from the Syrian capital, Damascus. “Some experts say that could mean it was a chemical weapons production facility.”

The attack on Tartous was “significant”, given its role as a base for the Syrian navy, he said, adding that Israeli forces had destroyed “an entire ship” in the past three days.

Suddenly, Israel also bombed areas in and around Damascus, especially near Qasioun mountain, hitting “radar systems” and “air defense systems”, according to Serdar.

Officials expect the remaining strikes on “radar and war systems” to continue in the coming days, he said.

The overnight raids in Tartous and Damascus marked the latest phase of an ongoing Israeli campaign that has seen the military hit the country with around 600 strikes in the eight days since al-Assad fell.

“Israel is pursuing a strategy to reduce the air defense capabilities of this country and its military,” Serdar said.

Similarly, Israeli forces entered the United Nations-protected area, which separated Israeli and Syrian forces from the Golan Heights, in violation of the 1974 armistice agreement.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also announced plans to increase the number of residents of the Golan Heights, which he has occupied illegally since 1967.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of the new Syrian government, said that the country is not in a position to enter into any conflict “because there is general fatigue in Syria”.

Separately, the Syrian Kurds, who rule an independent state in the north-east, have called for “a halt to military operations in the whole of Syria in order to start a constructive, comprehensive international dialogue”. In a statement issued at a press conference in Raqa on Monday, the administration extended its hand to the new authorities in Damascus.

Access to other countries

Amid the attacks on Israel, the new administration has been making strides with international “recognition,” said Al Jazeera’s Serdar, referring to the opening of embassies by Turkey and Qatar, as well as recent contacts with US and UK officials.

European Union Foreign Policy chief Kaja Kallas announced on Monday that he had ordered the bloc’s envoy to Syria to go to Damascus and communicate with the country’s new government.

Western countries are wary of the new leadership in Damascus, as the al-Sharaa group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham used to be close to al-Qaeda.

The EU severed relations with the al-Assad regime in Damascus during the country’s civil war, but remained an important donor of humanitarian aid to help the local population.

Kallas said EU foreign ministers will discuss in Brussels “how we engage with the new Syrian leadership, and at what level we engage”.

Geir Pedersen, the UN ambassador to Syria, met with al-Sharaa in Damascus on Sunday, and said he hoped the sanctions would be lifted soon to help stabilize the economy.

A Qatari delegation also arrived in Syria on Sunday to meet officials of the interim government and pledged “full commitment to support the Syrian people”.

A delegation of French lawyers is also expected in Damascus on Tuesday to “take our place again” and “communicate” with the new authorities, said acting Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country plans to provide aid including wheat, flour and oil to Syria.