Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on April 5 that the Paratroopers Brigade raided earlier this week a site belonging to the former Syrian military in southern Syria, where the troops seized or destroyed heavy weapons.
The weapons included main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers, and artillery systems, as well as dozens of mortars and rockets, according to the military.
Videos and photos released by the IDF showed two Soviet-made T-55 tanks, with at least one of them being destroyed in a strike.
Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The footage also showed a multiple launcher with dozens of improvised heavy rockets, in addition to dozens of Soviet-made 9M117 Bastion anti-tank guided missiles.
Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Israeli troops invaded the buffer zone adjacent to the occupied Golan Heights in southern Syria just hours after the fall of the Assad regime on December 8. The IDF also launched hundreds of strikes destroying much of the country’s military capabilities.
Initially, the IDF described its presence in southern Syria’s buffer zone as a temporary and defensive measure. However, Defense Minister Israel Katz later said that troops will remain deployed to nine army posts in the area, including one atop the strategic Mount Hermon, “indefinitely.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in February that southern Syria must be completely demilitarized, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of the forces of the new Syrian Islamist-led interim government close to its territory.
In recent weeks, the IDF stepped up its strikes on central and southern Syria, targeting many sites of the former Syrian military.
The southern region also saw serious escalations on April 3, when local fighters clashed with Israeli troops operating out of the buffer zone. The IDF retaliated with a series of strikes that claimed the lives of at least nine fighters. Since then, tensions have been building up in the region.
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