Israel at war: What happened on day 429?

The IDF on Sunday afternoon took over the Syrian side of the Mount Hermon mountain range to expand a demilitarized buffer zone along the border with Syria and also at several other points of significance for defense.

The Hermon range has always been thought of as a strategic advantage because it provides the high ground for the entire area, also enabling Israel to anticipate any potential invading force.

The military added that it would not get involved in any internal occurrences in Syria, provided that no forces in Syria endanger Israeli security interests.

Earlier on Sunday, the IDF struck a chemical weapons factory belonging to the Syrian regime to prevent the rebels from seizing it, The Jerusalem Post confirmed following Arab media reports.

Military sources said in response that the army follows developments that could endanger Israel and takes the necessary steps to attack any dangerous threats.

Avoid conflict and stay diligent

Jerusalem’s position has always been to avoid conflict with Syria where possible but to not permit dangerous developments when it comes to advanced weapons. Israel has carried out thousands of airstrikes within Syria – usually only publicly admitting to a small number – dating back over a decade since the Syrian Civil War began in 2011.

For example, it would be against Israeli interests for chemical weapons to fall into the hands of unpredictable actors, like some of the more jihadist rebel groups.

These attacks increased in recent months after the IDF killed most of Hezbollah’s leadership and began striking significant Hezbollah and Iranian interests in Syria.

On Saturday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi said on a visit to the Syrian border that the IDF was “monitoring to ensure that local elements aren’t moving in our direction” with a “very strong offensive and defensive response” prepared should the need arise.

The military announced that, by a situational assessment, the IDF decided to reinforce troops for defense purposes throughout the Golan Heights region bordering Syria.

“The reinforcement of forces will enable strengthening the defense in the area and the preparation of forces for various scenarios in the sector,” the IDF’s statement read.

Early on Sunday, the Syrian military’s command informed officers that the regime of President Bashar Assad had ended, with Syrian rebels announcing that they had freed Damascus.

The IDF added that the axis of resistance of Tehran, Damascus, and Beirut is gone and no longer exists. According to the military, this new era offers lots of historic opportunities but also involves serious dangers, since some of the new rulers in Syria are unpredictable jihadists.

For example, Israel is not only concerned about Syria’s new rulers attacking the Jewish state but also about them potentially trying to destabilize its close intelligence ally, Jordan.

In terms of taking over the Syrian side of the Mount Hermon range, IDF sources said the premise is that the military will be there only temporarily until it feels it has an understanding with Syria’s new rulers to keep control of their various scattered militias.

Sources said that some of the rebel forces that moved through the Syrian side of the Golan on Friday and Saturday were from diverse Sunni groups, so it was unclear how much control the main rebel leaders could exert over them to stop them from attacking an Israeli border town.

The IDF flagged that some of these Syrian rebels attacked a UN outpost to steal materials.

According to the military, all of its actions, whether slight moves into close parts of the Syrian border or several airstrikes against certain dangerous Syrian weapons, were coordinated with several foreign parties with interests in Syria.

These may include the US, Russia, Turkey, and the Kurdish-Syrian groups, among others.It was unclear how long the army would stay on the Syrian side of the Hermon – if it takes longer to reach an understanding with the new regime once it emerges.

The IDF also emphasized a need to keep an eye on the treatment of Druze persons and towns on both sides of the border.

On Sunday, Israel conducted airstrikes across Syria against weapons and intelligence centers that might augment the threat at some later date.

The impression the army gave was that this is a short-term, unique opening to remove Syrian weapons threats while the country is in disarray.

In one instance, the IDF attacked three times against a major security complex in the Kafr Sousa district of the Syrian capital, along with a research center where it had previously said Iranian scientists developed missiles, and in another part of Syria.

Rebels stormed Iran’s embassy in Damascus on Sunday after the capture of the Syrian capital. Iranian media stated that an armed group, reportedly distinct from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels who led the offensive across Syria, breached the embassy and nearby stores.

Video footage shared by Saudi’s Al-Arabiya network appeared to show damaged furniture and documents scattered inside the embassy, although the authenticity of the videos has not been independently verified.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that diplomats vacated the embassy earlier in the day, before the attack. The semi-official Tasnim News Agency also reported that all Iranian staff serving at Damascus’s revered Sayeda Zeinab and Sayeda Ruqqaya shrines had been evacuated to Iran before rebels entered the city.

Maya Gur Aryeh, Reuters, and the Media Line contributed to this report.