Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Damascus reported that Israel again launched raids on Friday evening around the Syrian capital, where explosions were heard. Local sources also spoke to Al Jazeera about an apparent Israeli bomb attack targeting defense laboratories and a research center in Masyaf. in the countryside of Hama, in the center of the country.
Since rebel forces entered Damascus at dawn last Sunday and toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Israeli occupation army has intensified its raids on military and strategic sites across Syria and announced the implementation of the largest air operation in its history.
The Israeli military said in its statements that around 90 percent of the Syrian army’s military capabilities were destroyed, including aircraft, warships and strategic installations, to prevent rebel forces from reaching them.
Israeli Army Radio also reported at the time that 350 warplanes attacked sites from Damascus to Tartus, and that dozens of planes, air defense systems and weapons depots were destroyed.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said its forces were continuing what it described as their defensive missions in the buffer zone in Syria and along the border.
He noted that army units found combat equipment, including anti-tank missiles and rifles.
The Israeli army said its forces were continuing operations aimed at strengthening technical barriers to protect Israel and the Golan in particular, it said.
For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said he visited the Golan Heights accompanied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ordered the army to prepare to stay atop Mount Hermon overlooking Damascus throughout the winter.
Katz said they climbed the Syrian peak of Mount Hermon, which returned to Israeli control after 51 years, calling the moment historic, as he put it.
A statement released by the Israeli Defense Ministry explains that Katz considers Israel’s control of the Mount Hermon summit to be of great security importance amid events unfolding in Syria.
After the fall of the regime of deposed President Bashar al-Assad, the Israeli occupation army captured Mount Hermon and several sites in the occupied Syrian Golan.
The summit of Mount Hermon overlooks many areas of Syria, such as Damascus, the Levant Desert, and the Hauran Plain. Part of the northern borders of Jordan and Palestine are also visible, including Irbid Governorate, the Hebron Mountains and Lake Tiberias. in addition to all of southern Lebanon, the West Lebanon mountain range and the Bekaa Valley.
The Mount Hermon region, or so-called Mount Hermon – which is located in the western part of Syria, near the Lebanese border – has been considered a buffer zone between Syria and Israel since the 1970s and before , as it was defined between the two. parties in accordance with the disengagement agreement, and remained subject to the agreement for approximately 50 years, concluded at the time, to separate the forces which fought in October 1973.