With Assad overthrown and Syria in shambles, Israel has declared the permanent annexation of the Golan Heights. "The Golan Heights," announced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "will forever be an inseparable part of the State of Israel."
He said that control over this historical Syrian territory "guarantees" Israel's security and sovereignty and is of "great importance". The announcement came as Israel pounded with airstrikes numerous Syrian bases, abandoned army assets, parked warplanes and helicopters, and even naval ships off Latakia.
The attacks kept going throughout the night, as Israeli and international sources describe:
Regional security sources and officers within the now-fallen Syrian army who spoke to Reuters described Tuesday morning’s airstrikes as the heaviest yet, hitting military installations and airbases across Syria, destroying dozens of helicopters and jets, as well as Republican Guard assets in and around Damascus.
"The rough tally of 200 raids overnight had left nothing of the Syrian army’s assets, said the sources," the report adds.
Netanyahu further hailed that this signals the start of a "new and dramatic chapter" in the history of the Middle East. He called Assad a "central element of Iran’s axis of evil" but that Iran over-invested and everything collapsed.
Israeli media has further confirmed that after Israeli forces crossed the Golan area deeper into southern Syria, establishing a so-called security and buffer zone, IDF tanks are closer to the Syrian capital than ever before in history.
The Times of Israel details:
An Israeli military incursion into southern Syria has reached about 25 kilometers (16 miles) southwest of the capital Damascus, two regional security sources and one Syrian security source says.
The Syrian security source says Israeli troops reached Qatana, which is 10 kilometers (6 miles) into Syrian territory, east of a demilitarized zone separating the Golan Heights from Syria.
Despite the claims, the IDF has indicated that it only plans to operate on the ground inside the buffer zone, and not beyond it.
Some critics of the now ruling Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have pointed out that this supposed "revolution" has resulted in a situation where Turkey is carving up the north and Israel is carving up the south, while the whole country is defenseless, without anti-air protection, against Israeli strikes.
Meanwhile Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also had a message in the wake of the dramatic changes in Syria. He warned HTS and the armed factions now in control, saying that if they threaten Israel they will be attacked relentlessly:
"The IDF has acted in the last few days to attack and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the State of Israel," Katz says, warning the rebels that "whoever follows [ousted president Bashar] al-Assad’s footsteps will end up like Assad did. We won’t allow an extremist Islamic terror entity to act against Israel from beyond its borders… we will do anything to remove the threat."
On Sunday into Monday, Israeli warplanes had also targeted Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles, but it's unlikely that they were able to destroy everything. More sporadic attacks are expected, and the situation remains extremely fluid and unpredictable.