TEL AVIV — The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had destroyed Syria's navy and carried out roughly 350 airstrikes over the previous 48 hours.

 

Israeli ships struck numerous Syrian vessels armed with anti-ship missiles at the Al-Baida and Latakia ports, the Israeli army said, aiming to prevent these weapons from falling into the hands of Syrian rebel groups. Fifteen missile boats were destroyed by the Israeli navy, according to reports. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said his country “destroyed Syria’s navy overnight and with great success.”

 

Using satellite pictures, British security company Ambrey reported on Tuesday that the Israeli military had indeed struck at least six Syrian ships in Latakia and that five of the six had sunk. 

 

On Tuesday evening, following the aerial bombing across Syria, the Israeli military estimated that 80% of the Syrian army's strategic capabilities had been destroyed.

 

This comes after Israeli troops entered the Syrian side of the Golan Heights on Sunday. The troops are now stationed in the demilitarized buffer zone agreed upon in the 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries. 

 

Lebanon's Al-Mayadeen outlet reported on Tuesday morning that Israeli troops advanced and were about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Damascus, but an Israeli military spokesperson denied these reports. "Reports circulated in certain media claiming that Israeli military forces are advancing [on] or approaching Damascus are completely untrue. Israeli forces are inside the buffer zone and at defense points close to the border in order to protect Israel's borders," the spokesperson posted on X.

 

 

The Golan Heights buffer zone is a central element in the so-called Agreement of Disengagement that ended the 1973 war between Israel and Syria. It was the last territorial arrangement signed between the two states and defines the de facto border line between them. Though originally defined as temporary, the agreement was still considered to be in effect until the downfall of the Assad regime and has mostly been adhered to in recent decades. 

 

According to the agreement, the buffer zone, which includes the Syrian border town of Quneitra, was demilitarized. The buffer zone itself is a narrow south-to-north stretch of land, and its depth varies. The Syrian separation line is located east of the Israeli line at a distance ranging from dozens of meters up to 10 kilometers (6 miles). Following the agreement, the area was under the control of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), made up of about 1,000 soldiers, with a local Syrian civil administration. The northern part of the buffer zone is also the area where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet, making it especially strategic due to the presence of Iran-backed Hezbollah in both Lebanon and Syria.  

 

On each side of the buffer zone, the 1974 agreement defined a 10-kilometer stretch of land to be semi-demilitarized, with limitations on the respective presence of the Syrian and Israeli armies. The Syrian and Israeli armies have both established over the years bases near the buffer zone, which ends in the north at Mount Hermon, the highest point in the region, considered an important strategic asset overlooking the area. 

 

With the rebels' lightning-fast advancement on Syria that began on Nov. 29, Israel declared the collapse of the 1974 agreement signed with the Syrian government. From the Israeli point of view, the failing Assad regime was no longer in a position to guarantee the fulfillment of the agreement.

 

After reports of Syrian soldiers withdrawing from the area, Israeli troops began entering the buffer zone on Sunday. Visiting the border area that day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Syrian soldiers have abandoned their positions. … We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border."

 

Haaretz quoted Monday an unnamed military source as saying that the decision to quickly send troops into Syria's Mount Hermon area and into the buffer zone was made after the rebels occupied many positions once held by the Syrian army near the border with Israel, stressing that it was unclear how long the forces would be required to remain in the buffer zone for defense missions.

 

Meanwhile, Israel’s Representative to the UN Danny Danon said on Monday that armed rebel groups had entered the so-called area of separation between Israel and Syria over the weekend. In a letter addressed to US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who currently presides over the UN Security Council, Danon wrote that the armed groups "temporarily took control of several UNDOF outposts and looted equipment belonging to UNDOF, putting the safety and security of United Nations personnel at grave risk."

 

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s incursion into the buffer zone in a statement on the social media platform X, writing that Israel’s actions were meant to “sabotage Syria’s chances of restoring its security, stability and territorial integrity."

 

 

The Israeli army's main concern is that rebel groups will advance toward the south of the country and take control of the buffer zone with the intent of attacking Israel from there, or that fighting will spill over into Israeli territory.

 

Troops from Israel's Shaldag commando unit took over the Syrian military base at Mount Hermon just outside the buffer zone, while armored units and paratroopers entered the buffer zone with tanks to take control of the territory, marking the first time since 1974 that Israeli ground troops made such a move.

 

A statement issued on Monday by Katz said he had instructed the military to complete the takeover of the buffer zone area, especially the strategic positions there, in order to create "a security space clear of heavy strategic weapons and terror infrastructure in [southern] Syria [that] could threaten the state of Israel." 

 

Katz gave no indication as to how long the military is expected to stay on the Syrian side of the border, but he did stress that the move was temporary. Still, both Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday that Israel does not intend to interfere in what is going on in Syria. Its only concern is to guarantee the safety of the Israeli residents near the border. 

 

Israeli diplomatic sources confirmed to Al-Monitor that Israel notified the Biden administration in advance of its intention to enter the buffer zone. 

 

"We have not yet seen any reaction from [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham] or other rebel groups to the Israeli moves — not to the entry into the buffer zone, not to the takeover of the Syrian Mount Hermon and not to the hundreds of airstrikes by the Israeli military on weapons depots across the country," senior researcher at the Israeli National Institute for Security Studies Carmit Valensi told Al-Monitor. 

 

"Since there is no longer any governing body that is charged with enforcing the 1974 (ceasefire agreement), Israel had to act, but the emphasis is on the temporality of the operation. The idea is not to conquer any Syrian land, but to control the border area until the security and political situation there stabilizes," she added. 

 

Sarit Zehavi is the president of Alma, an independent research center specializing in Israel's security challenges on its northern border. She told Al-Monitor that the operations undertaken in the past three days in Syria by the Israeli military are the direct consequences of the lessons learned following the Oct. 7 Hamas assault.

 

"Oct. 7 taught us that when we are dealing with extremists, especially Islamic jihadi groups, we must expect the unexpected," Zehavi said. "The second lesson we learned was that we have no room for error in judgment, because every such error could prove fatal."

 

"Over the years, the Israeli assessment was that the jihadi groups were the dominant ones in Idlib," said Zehavi, referring to the area in Syria where many of the rebel groups were located prior to recent developments. "We are uncertain about the situation now and which rebel groups are heading where," she added.