Israel’s PM claimed credit Sunday for the events leading to the downfall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad — and used the moment to boost the Jewish state’s security by bombing terror sites in Damascus.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in a video statement that the fall of the Assad regime to rebels was a “direct result of our forceful actions against Hezbollah in Iran, Assad’s main supporters.
“It set off a chain reaction of all those who want to free themselves from this tyranny,” the Israeli prime minister said.
He added that Israeli forces quickly captured Syrian positions outside Damascus to “ensure that no hostile force embeds itself right next to the border of Israel.”
Israel also bombed sites within the capital itself, including a security complex and a government research center that it said Iran had previously used to develop weapons.
The IDF said it fears chemical weapon stockpiles falling into the hands of rebel forces who might use them against Israel.
For years, Israel has conducted attacks on Iran-linked targets into Syria, but a tenuous peace deal struck in 1974 — at the end of the Yom Kippur War – with the Assad family’s dictatorship kept the two countries from open war.
With the fall of Assad, that treaty is officially dead, Netanyahu said.
“This agreement held for 50 years. Last night, it collapsed,” the prime minister said.
Israel’s fresh strikes over the weekend occurred after Islamic rebels captured Damascus following a two-week offensive.
The Israeli targets also included seven positions in the county’s southwest, such as an air base that the IDF said Syrian forces had abandoned, Reuters reported.
Netanyahu called Assad’s downfall “a historic day” that offers “great opportunity.”