Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that the fall of Bashar Assad’s government in Syria is a “direct result” of Israel’s military campaign against Hezbollah and Iran.
Anti-government forces, including Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) jihadists and US-armed Free Syrian Army militants, stormed Damascus on Saturday, as the Syrian Army stood down and Assad – according to the Russian Foreign Ministry – left the country for an unknown destination. HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, a former al-Qaeda commander, proclaimed victory in a televised statement on Sunday, declaring that “the future is ours.”
In a visit to the Israel-Syria border on Sunday, Netanyahu hailed the radical Islamist takeover of Syria.
”This is a historic day in the history of the Middle East,” he said in a video statement. “The Assad regime is a central link in Iran’s axis of evil: this regime has fallen.”
“This is a direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, the main supporters of the Assad regime,” he continued, claiming that Israel’s strikes on Iran and military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon hampered their ability to reinforce Assad’s troops against the terrorist advance.
”This has created a chain reaction throughout the Middle East of all those who want to be free from this oppressive and tyrannical regime,” he added.
HTS forces launched a surprise offensive against the Syrian Army in the northern Idlib and Aleppo provinces late last month, and quickly seized a number of key cities along the road south to Damascus. From the outset, Assad’s government maintained that the jihadists’ ranks were swelled by large numbers of foreign fighters, while the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that the terrorists had received training from Ukrainian military intelligence.
While it is unclear whether al-Jolani coordinated with the US and Israel prior to the assault, former US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey described HTS in 2021 as “an asset” of Washington, while Jolani himself has insisted that his fight is not with the West, but with Assad and Iran.
“We love Israel and we were never its enemies,” a jihadist fighter from Idlib told Israel’s Kan broadcaster last week. “[Israel] isn’t hostile to those who are not hostile toward it. We don’t hate you, we love you very much,” the militant added.
Israel has capitalized on the fall of Assad by moving troops into a region of the Golan Heights that had served as a buffer zone between the two countries since the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement was signed in the wake of the Yom Kippur War. In his address on Sunday, Netanyahu said that he was acting “first and foremost to protect our border,” and that the agreement effectively “collapsed” once Syrian troops “abandoned their positions.”