Israeli occupation armored forces take position outside the occupied village of Majdal Shams near the buffer zone that separates the occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, December 9, 2024. Photo: AFP.
“Israel” has continued to expand its occupation in Syria without facing any resistance. Israeli tanks are now reportedly around 20 kilometers from the capital, Damascus, while the Zionist entity is simultaneously waging a massive bombing campaign across the country.
Israeli tanks reached the city of Qatana in the southern Damascus countryside, about 20 km away from the Syrian capital, on Tuesday, December 10.
The Israeli occupation took over the entirety of the Golan, including the Syrian side of Mount Hermon. It led a further eastward advance, taking over the UN-monitored buffer zone in the same area. The prime minister of the occupation entity, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared earlier that the Golan “will be Israeli for eternity.”
Israeli forces are also occupying several towns and villages, including Aarna, Baqa’sm, al-Reemeh, Hinah, Qal’a, Jandal, al-Husseiniyah, Jita, and al-Khashab in the southern Damascus countryside.
Meanwhile, the Zionist entity carried out destructive airstrikes on Tuesday night, hitting Syrian army facilities in Aleppo, Damascus, and the western port city of Latakia.
“The Israeli Navy carried out a large-scale operation last night to destroy the Syrian army fleet, where several ships belonging to the Syrian naval fleet were destroyed, which were carrying dozens of naval missiles, in the area of the Bayda port and the Latakia port,” Israeli Army Radio reported on December 10.
The city of Salamiyah, in the eastern countryside of Hama, also came under Israeli strikes of Tuesday.
Warplanes also targeted the Shayrat airbase in the Homs countryside as well as military installations in the northern region of the Raqqa governorate.
Netanyahu Claims Occupied Golan Heights Will Be ‘Israeli’ ‘For Eternity’
Israeli media outlets claim that the Israeli Air Force draws closer to destroying the entirety of the Syrian Air Force.
Some 300 Israeli airstrikes have targeted Syria since the overthrow of the government of former President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, December 8, by Turkish and US-backed terrorist groups.
Meanwhile, violence and instability prevails across the country.
According to reports on December 10, Syrian chemist Dr Hamdi Ismail was found killed in his home.
Several executions of Syrian army soldiers have been reported since the Assad government fell.
The terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that led the assault on Syrian territory since late November has not said a word about the Israeli occupation of southern Syria and the relentless attacks across the country.
HTS, formerly known as al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, the al-Nusra Front, has been implicated in numerous atrocities, including kidnapping, public executions, indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, and other war crimes over the years. HTS is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and is banned in several countries.
On December 9, the terrorist organization appointed Mohammad al-Bashir as the prime minister of the “interim government” of Syria.
Al-Bashir was the “prime minister” of the HTS-led “Salvation Government,” which was formed in 2017 and ruled Syria’s northern province of Idlib, where HTS was based and operated for years, before toppling the Syrian government last Sunday.
(Al-Mayadeen English) with Orinoco Tribune content
