Amidst the power vacuum left by the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, both Israel and the U.S. have wasted no time in conducting airstrikes within Syria.
The Israeli air force conducted hundreds of airstrikes across Syria, targeting sites linked to chemical weapons production and Iranian-backed militia groups, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The Israeli government claims the strikes are aimed at preventing these weapons from falling into the hands of extremist groups who might try to exploit the chaos following Assad’s overthrow. The airstrikes are also seen as a pre-emptive measure to secure Israel’s borders and protect its citizens from potential threats emanating from Syria.
The fall of the Assad regime, a long-standing adversary of Israel, has created a new security dynamic in the region. Israel is particularly concerned about the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981. The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, the Islamist opposition group that took Damascus, has family roots in the Golan Heights. Thousands of Israeli settlers now live in the area alongside about 20,000 Syrians, most of them Druze, who stayed on after it was captured. The Israeli strikes in Syria have reportedly been more frequent since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, in response to cross-border attacks on northern Israel by Hezbollah and other groups in Lebanon and Syria.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military has conducted dozens of airstrikes targeting ISIS camps and operatives in central Syria. The strikes aim to disrupt, degrade, and defeat ISIS, preventing the terrorist group from exploiting the power vacuum created by Assad’s fall to reconstitute and conduct external operations.
The U.S. military employed various aircraft, including B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s, hitting over 75 targets. The U.S. emphasizes its commitment to combating ISIS in Syria, even amidst the changing political landscape.
The airstrikes by Israel and the U.S. highlight the complex and volatile situation in Syria following the collapse of the Assad regime. While the two countries have different objectives, their actions demonstrate a shared concern over the potential security risks arising from the instability in Syria.
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