Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes across Syria, the report said

Syrian media reported that Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of attacks across the country, including the capital Damascus.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said there had been more than 100 attacks on military targets.

According to local media, a research center suspected of being involved in chemical weapons production was among the sites attacked.

Israel says it is taking action to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of extremists after the Assad regime was overthrown.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council is meeting to discuss the situation in the country after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.

SOHR said there had been hundreds of Israeli airstrikes in the past two days, including on a site in Damascus believed to be used by Iranian scientists to develop missiles.

The attacks come as the United Nations chemical watchdog warned authorities in Syria to ensure that suspected chemical weapons stockpiles are safe.

According to the United Nations chemical watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a chemical weapon is a chemical used to cause intentional death or harm through Its toxic properties, externally.

The use of chemical weapons is prohibited under international humanitarian law regardless of the presence of a valid military target, because the nature of such weapons’ effects is non-discriminatory.

It is unclear where and how many chemical weapons Syria has, but former President Bashar al-Assad is believed to have a stockpile and the statement he made was incomplete.

Syria signed the OPCW Chemical Weapons Certificate in 2013, a month after a chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus, which involved the nerve agent sarin and killed more than 1,400 people.

Horrifying images of victims convulsing in pain shocked the world. Western powers say the attack could only have been carried out by the government, but Assad blames the opposition.

Despite the OPCW and the United Nations destroying all 1,300 tons of chemicals claimed by the Syrian government, chemical weapons attacks in the country continue.

BBC analysis in 2018 confirmed that between 2014 and 2018, Chemical weapons have been used in the Syrian civil war at least 106 times.

On Monday, the OPCW said it was in contact with Syria “to emphasize the paramount importance of ensuring the safety and security of all chemical weapons-related materials and facilities” in the country. This.

Also on Monday, the Israeli military released photos of its troops crossing from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights into the demilitarized buffer zone in Syria, where United Nations peacekeepers stationed troops.

It comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the military had temporarily take control of the so-called Separation Zone, says the 1974 withdrawal agreement with Syria “collapsed” with the rebel takeover of the country.

The Golan Heights is a rocky plateau about 60km southwest of Damascus.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the closing stages of the 1967 Six-Day War and unilaterally annexed it in 1981. The move is not recognized internationally, although the US did so unilaterally in 1981. year 2019.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Saar said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had only taken “a very limited and temporary step” for “security reasons”.

He also stated that Israel is not interested in interfering in Syria’s internal affairs and is only interested in protecting its citizens.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli army would “destroy heavy strategic weapons” – including missile and air defense systems.

Israel’s latest move took place after Syrian rebel fighters captured the capital Damascus and overthrew the regime of Bashar al-Assad. He and his father have been in power in the country since 1971.

Forces led by the Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) entered Damascus at dawn on Sunday, before appearing on state television to declare that Syria was now “free”.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Netanyahu called the fall of the Assad regime a “historic day in the Middle East.”

The Assad regime received much support from Hezbollah and Russia during the country’s brutal civil war. With Hezbollah’s involvement in the Israel-Gaza war and cross-border air strikes between Israel and Lebanon, and Russia’s use of massive resources for its invasion of Ukraine, HTS, along with other rebel groups in Syria, was able to seize the opportunity and was eventually able to capture large areas of Syria.

During the 2011 Syrian uprising, Israel calculated that Assad, despite being an ally of both Iran and Hezbollah, was still a better choice than what might follow his regime.

On Sunday, Netanyahu affirmed that Israel would “send a hand of peace” to Syrians who want to live in peace with Israel.

He said the IDF presence in the buffer zone was a “temporary defensive position until suitable arrangements can be found”.

“If we can establish neighborly relations and peaceful relations with the new powers emerging in Syria, that is our wish,” he said. But if not, we will do whatever is necessary to protect the State of Israel and its borders.”

Israel may be more sensitive to the Golan Heights because HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani’s family has roots there. Thousands of Israeli settlers now live in the area along with some 20,000 Syrians, most of them Druze, who remained after the area was captured.

Israeli attacks in Syria are nothing new. It has previously admitted to carrying out hundreds of attacks in recent years against targets in Syria that it said were linked to Iran and allied armed groups such as Hezbollah.

Israeli attacks on Syria have reportedly become more frequent since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, in response to cross-border attacks on northern Israel by Hezbollah and other groups. other in Lebanon and Syria.

Just last month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, reported a series of attacks targeting an arms depot and other sites in and around the area. near Palmyra, where the families of Iran-backed militia fighters are staying. , killing 68 Syrian and foreign fighters.