The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out strikes on more than 300 targets in Syria over several days in the wake of the Assad regime’s fall on December 8. The strikes aimed at key military sites, such as warplanes the Syrian regime abandoned as its troops fled their posts during the opposition’s rapid advance across the country between December 1 and December 8. The strikes, combined with a naval operation that destroyed the Syrian Navy’s missile boats, are part of Israel’s multi-pronged attempt to respond to the crisis.
The IDF has called its Syrian operation “Arrow of Bashan.” It is the latest campaign after Operation Northern Arrows from September 23 and November 27, which targeted Hezbollah in Lebanon and ended with a 60-day ceasefire. The IDF began bolstering its forces in the Golan as the Syrian regime disintegrated in the days prior to December 8. Then, Israel sent forces into a buffer zone along the border that is part of the 1974 ceasefire line between Israel and Syria.
Israeli units also climbed to the highest peak on Mount Hermon, taking this key strategic site that overlooks southern Syria and Israel. Israel had already controlled a lower peak, where the country has some ski lifts that operate a few weeks a year. The airstrikes overnight between December 8 and 9, followed by additional strikes between December 9 and 10, completed the series of operations aimed at containing any initial fallout from the demise of the Assad regime.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We have no intention of interfering in Syria’s internal affairs; however, we do intend to do what is necessary for our security.” He went on to note that he “approved the Air Force bombing of strategic military capabilities left by the Syrian military so that they will not fall into the hands of the jihadists. This is similar to what the British Air Force did when it bombed the fleet of the Vichy regime, which was cooperating with the Nazis, so that it would not fall into the Nazis’ hands.”
Netanyahu says Israel wants to have relations with the new government of Syria. However, he also warned the new powers in Damascus not to let Iran transfer weapons via Syria. Iran has used Syria as a path to send weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, in addition to establishing bases and posts there over the years. If weapons are moved to Hezbollah and threats emerge, “we will respond forcefully, and we will exact a heavy price,” Netanyahu warned. “What happened to the previous regime will also happen to this one.”
The Assad regime once possessed a medium-sized army with hardware dating from the Soviet era complemented by Russian systems acquired over the last several decades. Its air force operated dozens of various MiG warplanes, as well as attack and transport helicopters. The relatively small Syrian Navy had Osa-class missile boats that dated from the 1960s and 1970s. The Assad regime also possessed chemical weapons facilities and once had a nuclear program that Israel neutralized in a 2007 air raid.
The Syrian military’s main strength was its ground forces, especially its large number of tanks and armored vehicles. However, it is estimated to have lost more than 2,300 of these tanks and vehicles during the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011. This toll left the Syrian Army in December 2024 with few serviceable aircraft and a paucity of armored vehicles. Those that were left were overrun by rebel groups.
The IDF strikes targeted leftover warplanes and helicopters, using precision munitions to bust through reinforced concrete hangars on some airfields, and struck ammunition depots and various surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missile systems. The IDF has hit some of these sites in the past during the Campaign Between the Wars. That operation, which consisted of thousands of targets struck, began during the Syrian Civil War and focused on targeting Iranian entrenchment in Syria between 2012 and 2024.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz visited Israel’s Haifa naval base on December 10, where he praised the Israeli Navy for its role in neutralizing what remained of the Syrian Navy. “The Navy operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet with great success,” Katz said.
