Israel launches massive blitz hitting Syria with ‘350 airstrikes in 48 hours’ | World | News

Israel’s military has said it launched 350 airstrikes across Syria in just 48 hours.

The country’s military has claimed that its ordinance has destroyed most of Syria’s “strategic weapons stockpiles”.

Video footage has been shared by Israel of it attacking what it says were the al Bayda and Latakia naval ports.

15 Syrian vessels were docked there, Sky News reports.

The post on Telegram said that anti-aircraft batteries, airfields and weapons production sites in Syria’s capital, Damascus; Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra were struck, too.

the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that the attacks are to make sure weapons used by the former Assad regime, which fell on Sunday, do not fall into the hands of jihadists.

Mr Netanyahu said in a video statement: “We have no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of Syria, but we certainly do intend to do what is necessary to ensure our security.”

The founder of the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights (SOHR), Rami Abdul Rahman, said that the strikes had destroyed “all the capabilities of the Syrian army”, adding that “Syrian lands are being violated”, the BBC reports.

The broadcaster also reports that Israel has seized positions, including the summit of a mountain with an “uninterrupted sightline” to Damascus.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has moved ground forces east from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights into a demilitarised buffer zone in Syria. It has also been said to have placed them “just beyond”.

Defence Minister Israel Katz has said that he had told the country’s troops to “establish a sterile defence zone free of weapons and terrorist threats in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence”.

France has urged Israel to withdraw forces from Syria’s buffer zone, AFP reports.

France’s foreign ministry said today: “Any military deployment in the separation zone between Israel and Syria is a violation of the disengagement agreement of 1974.”