Once Again, Israel Helps Save the World in Syria

The Assad regime is gone. Sadynaya Prison is liberated, and the depth of the Assad family’s depravity is becoming clear.

While the West seems to hold out hope that the transition will lead to something better for the Syrian people, the saying in the Middle East goes, “The enemy of my enemy can also be my enemy.”

The incoming warlords are the HTS — a Sunni, ISIS-adjacent, Taliban-adjacent, Turkish armed and funded organization on the US and UK terrorist lists. If you Google them, the stories would be accompanied by graphic, hideous videos of revenge killings. I am choosing not to link to the horrific murders here, but you can find them online, and just know that they are a tiny fraction of what’s out there.

HTS leaders and militants said, upon entering Damascus, “This is the heart of the Abode of Islam. This is Damascus, the [land of] Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, the land of Islam … This is the camp of the Muslims. From here we are coming to Jerusalem. Be patient, oh people of Gaza. Say Allah Akbar!”

One fighter added: “Just like that, Allah willing, we will enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Prophet’s Mosque [in Medina], and the Kaaba. We will enter these [mosques], Allah willing.”

In this context, Israel has offered the world a gift, decimating the Russian-Iranian arsenal Assad left behind before HTS can get its hands on it.

The first IDF strikes were on Syrian chemical weapons depots and “research facilities.”  (You know, the ones President Obama declared 96 percent destroyed in 2014.) Then, according to @IDF on X:

• Israeli Navy missile ships struck the Al-Bayda and Latakia ports, where 15 Syrian naval vessels were docked. They took out dozens of sea-to-sea missiles with ranges of 80–190 km. Each missile carried significant explosive payloads posing threats to civilian and military maritime vessels in the area.

• The Air Force conducted more than 350 strikes on targets including anti-aircraft batteries, Syrian Air Force airfields, and dozens of weapons production sites, neutralizing Scud missiles, cruise missiles, surface-to-sea, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, UAVs, fighter jets, attack helicopters, radars, tanks, hangars, and more.

• The IDF conducted air strikes on 130 ground assets in Syria, including weapons depots, military structures, launchers, and firing positions.

No civilians or homes — or anything besides destructive weapons — were targeted.

An IDF Spokesman said that Israel has destroyed approximately 80% of Syrian strategic weapons. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights agreed, “Israeli airstrikes have destroyed Syria’s military assets… The attacks resulted in complete suspension of air-defenses and put all targeted positions out of service.”

Oh, and yes, Israel entered the 400 sq km UN Golan buffer zone after helping the UN force there repel a rebel attack.

The UN is furious. “This needs to stop,” special envoy for Syria, Geir Pederson, told reporters. As Syrian factions “attempt an orderly transition” to a new government, it is “extremely important that we don’t see any action from any international actor that destroys the possibility for this transition in Syria to take place,” he added.

If UN officials think Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a “former”Al-Qaeda leader who claims to have recanted, should have access to chemical weapons and more, they are making the case for the demise of their institution.

Pederson said nothing about HTS-supporter Turkey, which has controlled more than 8,800 sq km of Syrian territory since 2018, and where last month it cut off water to one million people and this week escalated a bombing campaign against Syrian Kurds.

Where is the US in all this?

The Biden administration has been skeptical and derogatory about Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon. When Israel decimated Hezbollah — and eliminated the terrorists who killed 247 US Marines in the 1983 barracks bombing — White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk said, “We have disagreements with the Israelis on tactics and how you kind of measure escalation risk. It is a very concerning situation. … We want a diplomatic settlement…”

It’s a relief, then, to find that the US Central Command (CENTCOM) is working toward the future stability and security of Syria. CENTCOM — of which Israel is a member — conducted dozens of airstrikes on known ISIS camps and operatives in central Syria, announcing that the strikes were part of an ongoing mission to “disrupt, degrade and defeat ISIS.”

The US contribution is relatively small, but given the possibilities, it is welcome.

This all speaks to the larger regional issue. As the US prepares for a new administration — one which has shown its affinity for Israel and for regional security — the words of CENTCOM Commander Gen. Erik Kurilla, before October 7, 2023, are important.

According to the official statement: “The ability for our forces to work together is a key aspect of our combined efforts to support regional stability.” In the past 14 months, CENTCOM was instrumental in shooting down Iranian missiles aimed at Israel and responding to Houthi terror attacks in the Red Sea. Gen. Kurilla has been in Israel several times, including on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack.

Former paratrooper and Sandhurst senior lecturer Andrew Fox, who has been writing from Israel and Gaza regularly since October 7, noted, “The world really should buy Israel a beer.”

CENTCOM, too.

Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly magazine.

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