Israel carries out strikes on targets in Syria

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday said that over a two-day period, it carried out a campaign of air and naval strikes against weapons caches and other military infrastructure in Syria. The strikes destroyed Syrian facilities where naval vessels and sea-to-sea missiles were housed. Other strikes hit aircraft, airfields, weapons manufacturing facilities, weapons depots, anti-aircraft batteries, and a variety of missiles and drones stored in various locations.

Why did Israel destroy all those targets? Israel destroyed the military equipment to prevent it from falling into the hands of terrorist elements in Syria after the downfall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The United States on Sunday carried out more than 75 precision strikes against terrorist targets affiliated with the Islamic State group, U.S. Central Command said. Turkey, a NATO member sharing a border with Syria, has condemned Israel’s seizure of a previously demilitarized buffer zone in Syria.

What do other regional powers have to say about what’s going on? Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that what was occurring in Syria was the result of a U.S.-Israeli plot that would ultimately fail. He accused the United States and Israel of interfering in Syria’s internal affairs with their strikes and operations. He added in a social media statement that Syrian youth will free seized Syrian territories.

Have there been any developments in Gaza? The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry on Wednesday said that 19 Palestinians died in two separate Israeli attacks in Gaza over the past day. Nearly 70 other people suffered injuries in those attacks, the health ministry said.

What does Israel have to say? The Israeli military on Tuesday morning claimed credit for an airstrike that it said killed 10 terrorists who took part in a previous attack on Israeli forces. The military on Wednesday morning also said its soldiers took part in a raid that killed a Hamas leader.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift from earlier this week about Israel’s decision to occupy a previously demilitarized buffer zone in Syria near its border.