Israel is not ready to take any risks when it comes to the matter of Bashar al-Assad's military assets reaching the hands of HTS rebels and has tasked its Air Force and Navy to relentlessly strike targets in Syria. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) continues to pound missile depots, naval vessels and fighter jets across Syria to deny the jihadists any chance for further strengthening their arsenal.
Interestingly, the operation to "disarm" a "fallen" Syrian was dubbed “Bashan Arrow” by the IDF. The name denotes the Biblical name for the Golan Heights and southern Syria region, media reports said.
According to Jewish media reports, Israel executed at least 350 strikes in Syria over the past two days. The IDF is confident that it has succeeded in taking out “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria.” The Times Of Israel claimed in a report that the IDF estimates 70 to 80 per cent of the Assad regime's advanced weaponry now stands destroyed by its attacks from air and water.
How Operation “Bashan Arrow” unrolled
Revealing details of the mission, the IDF said that they focused on hitting Syrian air defence facilities first in order to ensure its Air Force pilots operated under little to no threat from Damascus. The strikes on the anti-aircraft (anti-AA) facilities began late Saturday, hours before more jets and drones were scrambled to target Syrian airbases, weapon depots and weapon production sites. As many as 320 targets were hit across the Syrian cities of Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra, reports claimed.
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While fighter planes, choppers, tanks, hangars that belonged to Syrian forces were reduced to rubble, a special focus was given to destroying Assad's chemical weapons and projectiles. Talking special care to neutralise the long-distance strike capabilities of Syria, the Israeli forces hit military bases used to stare cruise missiles, coast-to-sea missiles and other projectiles.
Israeli Navy joins “Bashan Arrow”
According to media reports, the Israeli Navy was called into action on Monday night. Tel Aviv's missile boats destroyed 15 naval vessels belonging to the former regime at the Minet el-Beida Bay and Latakia Port on the Syrian coast, the TOI said.
