New Israeli Airstrikes Near Damascus Kill 11: War Monitor

The government in Damascus has changed, but Israel’s relentless aerial assaults on Syria have not. A Sunday Israeli strike targeted an old army weapons depot northeast of the capital.

“An Israeli airstrike in the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday killed 11 people, according to a war monitor, as Israel continues to target Syrian weapons and military infrastructure even after the ouster of former President Bashar Assad,” reports The Associated Press.

The depot which was struck has been described as belonging to “Assad’s forces” in the industrial town of Adra. But Israel has been known to launch massive strikes in heavily populated areas, resulting typically in significant civilian casualties.

In the days and weeks after the December 8 takeover of the country by anti-Assad jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Israel has conducted hundreds of attacks seeking to degrade and destroy the national stockpile of weapons and advanced anti-air defenses.

Syria under the Assad government was known as having the most advanced air defense missile system in the region, having long been supplied by Russia.

Israel has used the opportunity of Assad’s ouster to permanently decimate Syria’s sophisticated weapons systems, including large-scale bombings of chemical weapons research centers, the main locations which are on the outskirts of Damascus.

This is also to prevent the return of Iranian forces to the country, and perhaps to ensure that whatever government rules Syria years from now can have no access to ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’.

At this point, Israeli tanks are a mere 20 miles from Damascus, and the Israeli military has seized Syrian land which extends out from the Golan Heights.

Adra saw heavy fighting throughout many years of the war in Syria, and at one point was occupied by al-Qaeda…

According to sources, at least 17 people were killed by the israelis and others injured in airstrikes targeting the Adra Industrial City in Damascus pic.twitter.com/cgCPyK21pK

— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) December 29, 2024

Israel also plans to indefinitely occupy the Syrian side of Mt. Hermon which is the highest mountain in the region and a strategic geographic height. Its leadership has claimed this is necessary to establish a security buffer zone.