The Times of Israel reports:

Following a major 48-hour bombing campaign in Syria, the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday said it had destroyed most of the former Bashar al-Assad regime’s strategic military capabilities, in an effort to prevent advanced weaponry from falling into the hands of hostile elements.

In a statement, the IDF said that its Air Force and Navy had carried out over 350 strikes against “strategic targets” in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime over the weekend, taking out “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria.”

The military estimated that it had destroyed 70-80 percent of the former Assad regime’s strategic military capabilities.

The operation was dubbed “Bashan Arrow” within the military, after the biblical name for the Golan Heights and southern Syria region.

The IDF released footage from the campaign, during which it said over 320 targets were struck across all of Syria. [Continue reading…]

The New York Times reports:

On Saturday, even before Mr. al-Assad fled the country, Israeli forces entered Syrian territory for the first time in 50 years. They have since taken control of a 155-square-mile demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights that has been patrolled by U.N. troops since the 1973 Middle East war. The zone abuts Syrian-controlled territory.

Israel captured the Golan during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed most of it in 1981. Most of the world views the area as Israeli-occupied Syrian territory, but over the past decades, Israel has firmly defended the land.

Israeli’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said Israel’s incursion into the U.N.-controlled buffer zone was “limited and temporary.”

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. secretary general, told reporters that the presence of Israeli forces in the area violated the 1974 agreement that created the buffer zone.

“There should be no military forces or activities in the area,” he said.

Mr. Netanyahu said on Monday that the 1974 agreement had collapsed because Syrian troops protecting some of the buffer zone had abandoned their posts.

Egyptian officials said Israel’s actions “violate international law, undermine the unity and integrity of Syrian territory and exploit the current instability to occupy more Syrian land.” Egypt called on the U.N. Security Council to “take a firm stance against Israeli attacks on Syria, ensuring its sovereignty over all its territories.” [Continue reading…]