On Tuesday, Israel launched strikes on Syrian army bases, stating that the operation aimed to prevent weapons from reaching hostile groups. However, it denied allegations of advancing beyond the buffer zone along the border. Meanwhile, in the Syrian capital, life showed signs of returning to normal following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad last weekend. Banks reopened for the first time, marking a significant step towards recovery. Shops resumed operations, traffic returned to the streets, construction crews worked on repairing a central roundabout, and street cleaners were busy sweeping the roads.
But it is a Herculean task to rebuild the country, where hundreds of thousands of people were displaced during the uprising that ended more than five decades of Assad family rule. Amid the jubilation, foreign countries are trying to work with the leading rebel group that overthrew Assad — once seen as a global threat to Islamist extremism — to help establish a transitional government.
But Israel’s pounding of the military is drawing condemnation from regional powers, including Turkey, which had been at the forefront of the uprising against the regime. The Turkish foreign ministry said Israeli “aggression” showed it still exhibited an “occupation mentality.”
In the airstrikes, the Israeli military struck research centers, arms warehouses, airports, and aircraft squadrons. Several weapons systems were disabled, and others were destroyed. In a letter to the United Nations Security Council, an Israeli ambassador insisted that the country was not intervening in Syria’s civil war and was taking “limited and temporary measures” solely to protect its security.
The United States, which has a force of about 900 troops in Syria, hasn’t commented on the Israel raids. But it has said that if Syria uses chemical weapons or long-range rockets against the country, the United States will respond militarily.
Israel has argued that its incursion into Syria is legitimate and necessary because of the danger of attacks against Israeli citizens in the north of the country. A UN envoy to Syria called the Israeli actions a “very troubling development” and urged both sides to respect their obligations under the 1974 disengagement agreement that created the buffer zone in the Golan Heights.
In a sign that Assad may try to hold on to power, his younger brother Maher headed the elite Presidential Guard and led the crackdown against anti-government protests. His sister Bushra once ran a large business empire. She was considered a key inner circle member, along with her husband, Deputy Defence Minister Assef Shawkat, until they had a falling out. The Assads’ other son, Bassem, was killed in a 2012 bombing that was blamed on the regime. The father, who once headed the intelligence services, has been confined to the country’s largest hospital with cancer.
