Eurasia Press & News
Bashar al Assad’s regime fell in the early morning of December 8, withering away in the face of a mere 11-day onslaught by a coalition of opposition armed groups. Israel found itself caught off-guard by the unfolding events in Syria. As matters developed, Israel cast a wary eye towards its northern neighbor. Assad’s downfall removed one of the most implacable and lethal of Israel’s Arab enemies. As importantly, it appeared to sever a central link in Iran’s anti-Israel “Resistance Axis” alliance—Tehran’s primary conduit of arms, material, and funds to its most powerful extension, Hezbollah.
However, the Israelis spared little time to celebrate, for Assad’s downfall came not at the hands of liberal democratic or moderate forces in Syria, but Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), a State Department-designed Foreign Terrorist Organization and—under its former incarnations—Al Qaeda’s Syrian franchise.
HTS’s pragmatic leader Ahmad al Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al Jolani, promised that he and his group had abandoned their terrorist roots. However, the Israelis, while extending the hand of peace to the new authorities in Damascus, were taking no chances, as few Islamist terrorist groups or leaders have undergone genuine changes of heart.
Bashan Arrow greenlight
Assad’s downfall left behind massive quantities of military hardware that could now fall into terrorist hands—most dangerously, an unsecured arsenal of chemical weapons. Even as militant groups were securing their hold over Damascus, Israel moved quickly to reinforce its position on the Golan Heights and preempt any danger from deeper within Syria.
On December 5, unnamed Israeli political sources were quoted by Al-Arabiya saying Israel would establish a buffer zone inside the Syrian side of the Golan Heights if Homs, the central pivot of Syria, fell into the hands of armed groups. On December 7, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi greenlit what would be dubbed “Operation Bashan Arrow” during a visit to the Golan Heights.
Halevi seems to have made the decision shortly after gunmen associated with Syrian armed factions attacked a United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) post near the predominantly Druze village of Hader in southern Syria. This area is administratively part of the Khan Arnabah Subdistrict of the Quneitra Governorate, in the portion under Syrian, rather than Israeli, control and right outside the UNDOF zone. The IDF intervened, helping the UN post repel the attack.
Bashan Arrow’s ground prong
The IDF has been characteristically mum regarding the specifics of its operations in Syria. As far as can be determined, however, the IDF seems to have begun deploying ground troops as reinforcements to the Golan Heights simultaneously with repelling the attack on the UN position.
Israeli armor units started immediately deploying near the Quneitra area and positioning themselves within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) established in 1974 to separate the Israeli from Syrian sides of the Golan Heights. Israel also preemptively deployed infantry and armor along the “Alpha Line”—the Israeli line of the DMZ—while conveying warnings to armed groups in Syria against crossing the “Bravo Line” bordering the DMZ on the Syrian side.
Shortly after, Israel seems to have sent forces into the DMZ itself, seizing control over the Syrian side of Mount Hermon—the highest point in all of Syria, and therefore a position of critical strategic importance to Israel. The Israelis had seized Mount Hermon’s highest summit during the 1967 Six-Day War. It then lost the entire mount to a Syrian commando raid on the first day of the 1973 Yom Kippur War—wresting it back on October 21, but reluctantly returning it to Syria after the conflict. On December 8, 2024, the Israelis, executing a unanimous cabinet decision, announced that IDF Shaldag commando units retook the highest summit, planting an Israeli flag atop it for the first time in 50 years.
Then, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he and the Cabinet of Israel had instructed the IDF to seize the DMZ and strategic control points “to ensure the safety of all Israeli communities in the Golan.” In a separate statement, Katz said Israel was seeking to create a “sterile defensive zone” in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence, to prevent any terrorist threat.
Shortly afterward, the IDF’s Arabic spokesman issued warnings to the residents of Ufaniya, Quneitra, Western Samadaniyeh, and Al Qahtaniah simultaneously not to leave their homes until further notice, as the IDF was operating against hostile elements in the area “but does not intend to harm you.”
Israel reportedly informed the United Nations that its operations would be temporally and geographically limited but acknowledged that Israeli troops would likely remain inside the newly captured territory for the foreseeable future. Israel, however, has left its withdrawal date open-ended, to be based on when it feels HTS does not pose a significant threat to Israeli security.
The extent of the Israeli ground incursion remained unclear. However, unconfirmed reports from the Hezbollah-aligned Al-Mayadeen alleged that Israeli tanks had reached within 3 kilometers of Qatana, which is 20 km from the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Quoting an unnamed “local source,” Al-Mayadeen also claimed the IDF had seized Erneh, Bqaasem, Rima, Heeneh, Qalaat Jandal, Dimas, Al Husseiyniyeh, Khan al-Sheikh, and Jubbata al Khashab. Other sources claimed Israeli forces had entered Bir Joz, Ain al Tineh, and Ain al Allaiqa (located west of Hader) in the northern Golan Heights, the Ruqqad bridge in its south, and the town of Al Hurriyeh in Quneitra’s northern countryside.
Israel denied these reports. Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an IDF spokesman, insisted Israeli troops remained in the DMZ and “a few additional points” in the vicinity but denied any significant push into Syrian territory beyond the buffer zone. “IDF forces are not advancing towards Damascus. This is not something we are doing or pursuing in any way,” he said.
Likewise, IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari denied “rumors […] that our tanks are heading to Damascus,” describing these reports as “fake.” Hagari insisted Israeli troops were “only in the buffer zone, making sure the Israeli border is safe.”
Bashan Arrow’s aerial/naval prong
Simultaneously with the ground incursion, the Israeli Air Force launched one of the largest and most comprehensive attacks in its history. According to the army radio network Galei Tzahal (GLZ), it hit targets belonging to the regime’s Syrian Arab Army (SAA) “from Damascus to Tartous.” Israel also targeted Iranian and Iranian-allied assets. On December 8, as the Assad regime was collapsing, an Israeli airstrike hit a convoy of Hezbollah armored vehicles withdrawing from Qusayr near the Syrian-Lebanon border back to Lebanese territory.
GLZ reported that 350 Israeli fighter jets took part in the operation, hitting 320 targets throughout Syrian territory, including a wide array of surface-to-air missiles, Syrian Air Force airbases, and several production facilities in Damascus, Homs, Tartous, Latakia, and Palmyra.
The IDF, in a characteristically terse statement, said the targets included a wide range of weaponry, including Scud missiles, cruise missiles, land-based anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, fighter jets, attack helicopters, radars, tanks, hangars, and weapons production facilities. The IDF claimed that aircraft, presumably unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operated by Northern Command’s Fire Control Center, destroyed over 130 targets in Syrian territory, including weapons depots, military buildings, launchers, and firing positions. Other reports claim that Israel targeted several facilities belonging to the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, known by its French acronym CERS.
Meanwhile, the IDF said Israeli missile boats attacked two bases belonging to the Syrian Navy, destroying dozens of ship-to-ship missiles with a range of 80–190 kilometers, each capable of carrying dozens of kilograms of explosives. These targets allegedly included K-300P Bastion-P batteries loaded with Russian-supplied Yakhont missiles. Other credible reports claimed that Israeli forces destroyed six OSA-II class Syrian Navy missile boats docked in the Port of Latakia—one left listing, and five sunk—with some sources saying no visible damage to the port’s infrastructure could be identified. Israel also struck Syrian ships docked at Al-Bayda Port—with a total of 15 ships docked at both ports.
Additional reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights(SOHR)—a source whose credibility has been questionable for the last few years—claimed additional Israeli strikes. SOHR reported Israeli attacks on weapons and ammunition warehouses in Qudsaya in the Damascus countryside and factories belonging to Syrian aerial defense forces in Al Sferah in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.
SOHR and other sources added the following alleged targets of Israeli strikes:
Deir Ezzor Province:
SOHR claimed Israel conducted a total of 5 strikes in the area and hit:
• Warehouses in a former SAA post near Deir Ezzor city
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warehouses in the desert south of Bukamal
• Six weapons depots and warehouses in the salt mines areas (Al-Tibni)
• Posts belonging to both the SAA and IRGC in the Deir Ezzor desert
• Radars and related equipment and aircraft at Deir Ezzor Military Airport
Hama Province:
• Syrian defense production facilities and air defense production factories in Masyaf
• The Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS) facility near Al-Zawi in the Masyaf countryside
• Ammunition depots in Salmiyah
Homs Province:
• Shayrat Airbase
• Warehouses in Shinshar, south of Homs
• Unidentified targets in Talbiseh, north of Homs
Al Hasakah Province:
SOHR claimed Israel struck:
• Qamishli Airport and the 54th “Tartab” Special Forces Regiment warehouses belonging to the Syrian Arab Army. Some sources later claimed the attacks in this area were Turkish and not Israeli.
Latakia Province:
SOHR claimed Israel conducted a total of 4 strikes in the area. It claims Israel hit:
• The Air Defense Forces Institute near Latakia Port
• Syrian warships and warehouses belonging to the regime in Kornish, Mushayrefah, and Ras al Shamra in Latakia’s countryside
• Unidentified targets in Jableh
Damascus Province:
SOHR claimed Israel conducted a total of 68 strikes in the area and hit:
• The area of Yafour and the SAA’s electronic warfare HQ near Al Bahdaliyah and Sayyedeh Zeinab
• Weapons warehouses in the village of Ain Manin in the area of al Tel
• Unidentified positions in the north of Al Qarah city
• Warehouses in Al Sumariyah
• Aqraba Airbase
• Positions near the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS) facility in Barzeh
• Al Mazzah Airbase
• Unidentified positions in Beitima in Jabal Al Sheikh
• The HQ in Damascus of the 4th Armored Division, which has a Chemistry Battalion specializing in chemical warfare, near the scientific research center
• Danha warehouses in Qalamoun
• Unidentified positions in the Security Zone (Al Murabaa al Amni) in Damascus, which houses intelligence HQs
• Weapons and ammunition warehouses on the outskirts of Damascus and in Qudsayah
• Other sources claimed Israel targeted the SAA 7th Division’s 121st Brigade in Kanaker and military barracks in Saboura and Al Bujaa in the Damascus countryside
Daraa Province:
SOHR claimed Israel conducted a total of 21 strikes in the area and hit:
• The SAA 5th Mechanized Infantry Division’s 112th Mechanized Brigade, located between Nawa and Sheikh Maskin in Daraa’s western countryside, and Syria’s largest Al Kamm military warehouses, east of the town of Mahajjeh in Daraa’s northern countryside
• Positions belonging to the 5th Division’s 12th Armored Brigade in Tel Hamd, Tel Jeddaya, Tel al Hara, and the city of Izraa
• Positions belonging to the 5th Division’s 175th Artillery Regiment in Izraa
• Israel also allegedly struck the SAA 5th Division’s 15th Mechanized Brigade east of the city of Inkhil
Aleppo Province:
• Defense production facilities belonging to the SAA’s air defense forces in the cities of Aleppo and As Sferah
Quneitra Province:
• SOHR claimed Israel conducted a total of 18 operations in the area, hitting positions in Tel al Shaar.
• Other sources claimed Israel hit the 90th Brigade north of Quneitra
Al-Mayadeen, quoting unnamed Israeli outlets, also claimed Israel had completely destroyed the “Syrian Intelligence Command’s” HQ—though it is unclear if the outlet was referring to the regime’s General Intelligence Directorate or the Military Intelligence Directorate. Al-Mayadeen also claimed the Israeli Air Force targeted a secret base belonging to the Assad regime that had previously posed a threat to Israel, destroying all the aerial defense batteries surrounding this base. The original Israeli sources could not be identified, so these claims could not be verified.
New Israeli red lines
On Tuesday, the IDF announced that it had completed the “central part” of Operation Bashan Arrow, destroying 70–80% of the military assets belonging to the former Assad regime. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying that, despite the widescale operation, Israel sought friendly relations with the new regime in Damascus. However, along with extending this olive branch, he warned Syria’s new rulers against attacking Israel, allowing Iran to embed itself in Syria, or letting Tehran or any other party use the country as a conduit to arm Hezbollah. If Syria’s new authorities cross any of these red lines, Israel “will extract a heavy price from this regime as we did the last one,” Netanyahu warned.
