Israel struck suspected chemical weapons websites and long-range rockets in Syria allegedly to forestall them from falling into the fingers of “hostile actors,” the nation’s Foreign Minister stated Monday.
“The only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens,” Gideon Saar informed reporters Monday. “That’s why we attacked strategic weapons systems, like, for example, remaining chemical weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists.”
Syrian anti-regime forces reached Damascus over the weekend and overthrew Bashar Assad’s regime following practically 14 years of civil battle, elevating hopes for a extra peaceable future but additionally issues a couple of potential safety vacuum within the nation, which continues to be break up amongst totally different teams.
An Associated Press journalist in Damascus reported airstrikes within the space of the Mezzeh navy airport, southwest of the capital, on Sunday. The airport has beforehand been focused in Israeli airstrikes, but it surely was not instantly clear who launched the newest strike.
Saar didn’t present particulars about when or the place the strikes happened.
Israel has carried out lots of of airstrikes in Syria lately, focusing on what it says are navy websites associated to Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, each of which have been shut allies of Assad. Israeli officers hardly ever touch upon particular person strikes.
Syria agreed to surrender its chemical weapons stockpile in 2013 after the federal government was accused of launching an assault close to Damascus that killed lots of of individuals. But it’s extensively believed to have stored among the weapons and was accused of utilizing them once more in subsequent years.
Commenting on Israel’s navy takeover of the buffer zone alongside its border with Syria, Saar claimed it was a “limited and temporary step.”
“This is a limited and temporary step we took for security reasons,” Saar stated in a press convention on the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.
Earlier Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced that he had ordered the military to “take control” of the zone after the autumn of Assad.
“Ground troops are engaged in combat on four fronts: against … in Judea and Samaria, in Gaza, in Lebanon, and last night we deployed troops into Syrian territory,” Halevi stated.
Judea and Samaria are the Israeli names for the occupied West Bank.
Source: www.dailysabah.com