Israel Destroys Much of Syria's Military Firepower as Freedom Advocates Monitor New Damascus Rulers

JERUSALEM, Israel – Within the past few days, Israel has destroyed much of Syria's military infrastructure and weapons, including jets, tanks, missiles, and navy ships. Meanwhile, the ultimate goals of the new power of the Sunni rebels are becoming clearer.

Following a historic 48-hour bombing campaign, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say they have destroyed up to 80 percent of Syria's military capability.

During the campaign, dubbed "Bashan Arrow" after the biblical name for the Golan Heights, the IDF hit more than 300 targets throughout Syria.

"The IDF has been working in Syria in recent days to damage and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the state of Israel. The Navy worked tonight to destroy the Syrian fleet and with great success," stated Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the strikes so Syria's military assets would not fall into the hands of Israel's new jihadist neighbors, and he sent them a warning.

He stated, "We want relations with the new regime in Syria. But if this regime allows Iran to re-establish itself in Syria, or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons or any other weapons to Hezbollah, or attacks us, we will respond forcefully and we will exact a heavy price from it. What happened to the previous regime will also happen to this regime."

Inside Syria, the former government of Bashar al-Assad indicated it would transfer power to Syria's new leader, Mohammed al-Golani of the Sunni opposition group HTS, who pledged no new war.

“The regime is now gone, thanks to God, and the country’s moving towards development and reconstruction," al-Golani said. "It’s going towards stability. People are exhausted from war so the country isn’t ready for another and it’s not going to get into another one.”

But MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, released a video of HTS fighters pledging that Syria's capital of Damascus is merely a stepping-stone.

In the video, a leader of the fighters shouts, "We have entered Damascus and the Umayyad Mosque, shouting 'Allah Akbar! There is no god but Allah!'"

His group responds, "Say Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar!"

The leader replies, "Just like that, Allah willing, we will enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem), the Prophet's Mosque (in Medina), and the Kaaba. We will enter these (mosques), Allah willing."

It's a goal al-Golani shared in a 2018 video as well.

In the video, he declared, “Allah willing, we will reach not only Damascus. Jerusalem awaits us as well. Every bullet we fire here will reverberate throughout the Islamic world.” 

Charmaine Hedding, founder of the Shai Fund currently helping Christians inside Syria, believes it's important to know the history of these new powers in Syria.

She explained, "We're watching these two groups that have just taken over Syria – the HTS, which is run by Golani, who's formerly a part of Jabhat al-Nusra, which is Al Qaeda – and the SNA, which is a coalition of forces that has a lot of ISIS veterans in them. And both of these groups are somehow funded by Turkey, and both have got major human rights records."

It's why Hedding and many human rights groups are deeply concerned for the future of Christians and other minority groups inside Syria.  

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