Israel has instructed its military forces “to maintain a high level of preparedness and to continuously monitor” Syria, according to the country’s Defense Ministry in a statement this Friday (6).
The instruction comes after Israel Katz, Israel’s defense minister, and Herzi Halevi, chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), “conducted an assessment of the security situation following the conflicts in Syria.”
The Army “is prepared for any scenario and determined to protect the citizens of Israel and protect national security interests at all times,” the statement highlighted.
Earlier this Friday, military personnel, in positions that were allegedly used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons.
The IDF said the airstrikes were conducted on “weapons smuggling routes and terrorist infrastructure sites” near Syria’s border with Lebanon in an effort to “thwart arms smuggling operations” used by the Iran-backed group. .
Understand the conflict in Syria
Syria’s civil war began during the Arab Spring in 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad suppressed a pro-democracy uprising.
The country was plunged into full-scale conflict when a rebel force was formed, known as the Free Syrian Army, to fight government troops.
Furthermore, the Islamic State, a terrorist group, also managed to gain a foothold in the country and came to control 70% of Syrian territory.
Fighting escalated as other regional actors and world powers — from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States to Russia — joined in, escalating the country’s war into what some observers described as a “proxy war.”
Russia has allied with Bashar al-Assad’s government to fight the Islamic State and rebels, while the United States has led an international coalition to repel the terrorist group.
After a ceasefire agreement in 2020, the conflict remained largely “dormant”, with minor clashes between the rebels and the Assad regime.
More than 300,000 civilians have been killed in more than a decade of war, according to the UN, and millions of people have been displaced across the region.
