KEY POINTS
- Israeli airstrikes hit 61 targets in Syria, reportedly destroying 70% of Syria’s military capabilities.
- HTS leader says his group is not seeking conflict with Israel.
- UN chief and European countries urged Israel to respect Syria’s sovereignty.
- Blinken holds talks with regional partners to shape post-Assad Syria.
DAMASCUS, Syria: Israel struck dozens of sites in Syria overnight with airstrikes despite the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his group was not interested in conflict with Israel.
The latest airstrikes follow a statement by Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, that Israeli troops, who seized the Golan Heights buffer zone with Syria last week, would remain for the winter on Mount Hermon in positions they occupied last week.
Katz’s office said in a statement that “due to what is happening in Syria, there is enormous security importance to our holding on to the peak”.
Sharaa told Syrian state media, “There are no excuses for any foreign intervention in Syria. We are not in the process of engaging in a conflict with Israel.”
Israel Using False Pretexts to Attack Syria
The HTS leader said Israel was using false pretexts to justify its attacks on Syria, but that he was not interested in engaging in new conflicts as the country focused on rebuilding following the end of Bashar al-Assad’s reign.
He added that “diplomatic solutions” were the only way to ensure stability rather than “ill-considered military adventures”.
“Israeli arguments have become weak and no longer justify their recent violations. The Israelis have clearly crossed the lines of engagement in Syria, which poses a threat of unwarranted escalation in the region,” Sharaa said in an interview published on the website of Syria TV.
“Syria’s war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations. The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not being drawn into disputes that could lead to further destruction.”
“The current stage requires careful management of international relations,” he added.
Israeli Missile Strikes on Syria
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israel fired 61 missiles at Syrian military sites in less than five hours on Saturday evening.
Israeli air raids hit bases, heavy weapons, and sites associated with the former Assad regime’s missile and chemical weapons programme, and destroyed Syria’s small naval force in the port of Latakia, The Guardian reported.
Israeli strikes have prompted mounting concern among diplomats and international officials concerned over what they fear may be an open-ended new occupation of Syrian territory.
Israel Urged to Withdraw from Buffer Zone
The UN has called on Israel to withdraw from the buffer zone, which sits between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said he was “deeply concerned by the recent and extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
France, Germany and Spain have also called on Israel to withdraw from the demilitarized zone.
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The UN has said Israel is in violation of a 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria that established the buffer zone. Israel has said the 1974 disengagement agreement “collapsed” with the fall of the Assad regime government.
Responding to Sharaa, the Israel Defence Forces chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said, “We aren’t intervening in what is happening in Syria. We have no intention of administering Syria.”
Israel’s Wholesale Destruction of Syria’s Military
According to reports, among the sites hit over the weekend were military headquarters, Syrian army positions, radars, and arms caches and assets of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre, which was responsible for developing advanced weapons.
Israel also estimates it has destroyed much of the Syrian air force’s infrastructure and aircraft.
The scale of the Israeli bombing campaign has surprised many western capitals who had believed that any Israeli strikes would be limited to missile sites rather than an effort aimed at the wholesale destruction of Syria’s military, which has had 70% of its capabilities destroyed in hundreds of attacks.
The latest Israeli air raids came as the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, wound up talks with Jordan, Turkey and Iraq with the aim of trying to shape the future of post-Assad Syria by forging consensus among regional partners and allies whose interests often diverge.
“We know that what happens inside of Syria can have powerful consequences well beyond its borders, from mass displacement to terrorism,” he told reporters in Aqaba, Jordan. “And we know that we can’t underestimate the challenges of this moment.”
Blinken also confirmed contacts between the Biden administration and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
