Following a suspected Israeli airstrike, a huge explosion shook the Syrian port city of Tartus overnight, raising new concerns about Israel’s operations in Syria after the overthrow of the Assad administration.
As Israel announced intentions to increase its population in the occupied Golan Heights, citing threats from Syria, footage of the explosion surfaced. Following remarks by Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani that he had no interest in becoming involved in new conflicts, the action drew worldwide censure.
The images coming out of Tartus were described by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring organization based in London, as depicting the bloodiest Israeli attacks on military installations in the eastern Tartus region.
The massive explosion can be seen blasting across the Syrian skyline in the video that went viral on social media on Monday.
NASA satellites have identified aftermath fires in an area just over 9 miles from the harbor, and NBC News has been able to geolocate the clip as having been shot from the Tartus port area, pointing at the highlands northeast of the city.
A request for comment on the video was not immediately answered by the Israel Defense Forces. However, an Israeli officer who watched the footage stated that the blaze was probably caused by a secondary explosion, pointing to the potential for bombs to ignite after an Israeli hit. Since they were not allowed to speak about Israel’s aircraft operations in Syria, the official talked on condition of anonymity.
It follows days after satellite footage seemed to show Russian troops dismantling and packing up military hardware at Russia’s Tartus naval facility and Hmeimim air base, which are both situated on Syria’s Mediterranean coast south of Latakia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the country’s security was the goal of Israel’s activities in Syria, which coincided with the ongoing heavy bombing of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
After his government overwhelmingly approved his plan to increase the number of Israelis in the region, he said in a statement on Sunday that “strengthening the Golan means strengthening the State of Israel, and this is especially important at this time.”
Israel unilaterally annexed the approximately 460-square-mile region in 1981 after occupying the Golan Heights during the 1967 Mideast War, a move that was not accepted by the international world.
The incumbent president and incoming president-elect in 2019In recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the region, Donald Trump defied both worldwide consensus and decades of U.S. practice; the Biden administration did not undo this policy change.
Netanyahu’s office stated on Thursday that the fall of the Assad regime in Syria had left a void along Israel’s border and in the buffer zone created by the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement, which called for Israel to leave the parts of Mount Hermon it had occupied during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. This prompted the decision to increase the Israeli population in the Golan Heights.
Israel declared that it will not allow Islamist organizations to take over and endanger Israeli settlements on the Golan Heights with attacks similar to those of October 7.
Following the warning, it was announced that Israeli military would spend the winter on Mount Hermon, a strategic mountain inside a buffer zone that has been shared with Syria for decades.
According to news agency Reuters, Jolani claimed on Saturday that Israel was attacking the nation under fictitious pretexts. However, he stated that his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) organization had no desire to get involved in any new wars while the country attempts to recover from Bashar Al-Assad’s overthrow.
HTS, which has its origins in radical Islamist groups, is still classified as a terrorist organization worldwide. In 2018, the US put a $10 million reward on Jolani’s head.
The former Al-Qaeda combatant has promised a Syria that is inclusive of all the religions and ethnic groups that are represented in the nation and has portrayed a more moderate image. According to the Biden administration, HTS may be taken off of the list of terrorist groups.
Israel’s airstrikes on Syria over the weekend and the plan to increase the Israeli population in the Golan Heights sparked international outrage by Monday. Turkey’s foreign ministry denounced what it called “a new stage in Israel’s goal of expanding its borders through occupation.”
Turkey’s foreign ministry stated in a statement Monday that “Israel’s ongoing actions seriously undermine the efforts to bring peace and stability to Syria and further increase tensions in the region.”
It follows United Nations president António Guterres’s appeal last week for Israel to stop its airstrikes and push into Syrian territory after the overthrow of Assad, calling “recent and extensive violations” of Syria’s sovereignty “deeply concerning.”
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!