Syria Suffers Massive Israeli Strikes Hours After Jolani Demanded Withdrawal

Just hours after Syria's new Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leadership demanded the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from seized portions of southern Syria, Israel launched huge airstrikes across the south and outside of Damascus.

Israel in a rare confirmation of the overnight airstrikes said its warplanes struck "military targets in southern Syria, including headquarters and sites containing weapons." It added, "The presence of military assets and forces in the southern part of Syria constitutes a threat" to Israeli citizens.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also described that Israel carried out "a series of attacks on military installations in the Damascus countryside" which resulted in at least four deaths. 

Israel began what looks to be an open-ended occupation of Syrian land, extending to the Syrian side of Mt. Hermon, following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad on December 8. Washington has endorsed the ongoing occupation as "defensive" in nature.

Since that early December regime change, Israel has bombed sites all across Syria - in literally hundreds of operations - largely targeting former Syrian Army bases, weapons storehouses, parked aircraft, and chemical weapons production sites.

Given that Syria had for over half-a-century been Israel's number one Iran-aligned foe, and long had the best anti-air defenses in the region, Israel has sought to make sure it can never return to that status again.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement late on Tuesday that the attacks were part of a "new policy" of ensuring a "demilitarized southern Syria". He warned that "any attempt" by Syrian forces or other militant groups to establish a presence in Israel's occupied "security zone" in the region "will be met with fire".

With the Syrian Army disbanded and collapsed, and after military bases have been largely decimated by weeks of Israeli strikes, the country is completely defenseless against the Israeli attacks.

Of course, this was always the ultimate aim of the NATO-Gulf-Israel alliance and conspiracy to overthrow Assad over the course of the last some eleven years. It was never about 'democracy' or human rights or actual concern for the Syrian people. It was a tragic and brutal proxy war plain and simple, to install a pliant Sunni regime.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week told an AIPAC conference that he plans to keep Israeli troops in southern Syria for the "foreseeable future". 

Ironically, Tel Aviv has warned of threats from Syria even as self-declared President Ahmed al-Sharaa (Jolani) has since taking over Damascus mostly avoided saying anything negative about Israel. The population has meanwhile grown angry that the new rulers have left the country helpless in the face of Israeli aggression.