IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi tours the Syrian border, Dec. 7, 2024 (Photo: IDF)
With the Syrian Assad regime falling apart within mere days, first consequences of the shocking advance of the rebel groups reached the Israeli border along the Golan Heights on Saturday, as the IDF took part in the fighting for the first time.
Rebel groups spearheaded by the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Shams (HTS) entered the northern city of Homs on Saturday, while the entire southern part of Syria, including provincial capitals Quneitra, Suweida, Dara’a, as well as several southern suburbs of the capital Damascus, was taken over by rebels.
At the time of publication, unconfirmed rumors swirled that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family had fled the country.
BREAKING
Israel has joined a battle on the border with Syria to repel a rebel attack against UN forces (UNDOF) in the Hader area by the Golan
It’s next to Majdal Shams where a deadly Hezbollah rocket struck in July
Most in UNDOF soldiers are Indian, Kazakh, Nepali & Uruguayan pic.twitter.com/zfQ0MCPjoz
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 7, 2024
Israel Defense Forces stated that troops helped UN peacekeeping forces in Hader, just under 5 km (3 miles) from the border, to beat back a rebel attack on their post in the first Israeli participation in the fighting in Syria so far.
According to Army Radio, IDF troops fired artillery at “armed forces” to defend the post of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which monitors the ceasefire between Israel and Syria in a buffer zone separating their borders.
“The IDF is assisting the UN forces to repel the attack in Syria and will continue to coordinate with the international forces deployed within the country’s borders,” Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon asserted.
The Israeli army had announced a second round of reinforcements for its troops stationed along the Syrian border just hours earlier, stating, “The reinforcement of the forces will allow strengthening defense in the area and preparing the forces for different scenarios in the sector.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi toured the Syrian border on Saturday, after the army carried out a large-scale exercise in the southern Golan Heights on Friday, which trained for the fast deployment of large forces in the case of an emergency.
“We need to conduct a situational assessment really every few hours. Every event here sets a standard and changes going forward,” Halevi stated.
“That’s why we are following very closely with all the collection capabilities what is happening. The main emphasis is to also see the Iranian exit… which for us is the first need, and the second thing is to see the local elements here who occupy the territory, what they are doing, how they behave, how deterred they are, and that they don’t by mistake turn in our direction.”
“In the case of such confusion, we have an offensive response ready, and behind it a very, very strong defensive response,” Halevi stressed.
Israel’s military and political leadership has been scrambling to react to the lightning advance of rebel groups against the regime across Syria. After the fighting concentrated in northern Syria for most of the past week, on Friday and Saturday almost the whole of southern Syria, including the border with Israel, fell into rebel hands.
This included numerous military bases stocked with heavy weaponry, as well as several military airports.
After urgent meetings among the IDF’s top brass and the security cabinet were convened on Friday, two more cabinet meetings were called for Saturday evening and Sunday.
A senior Israeli official confirmed that the meetings would mainly deal with the Syrian sector and the consequences of the events there, despite recent reports that hostage deal talks with Hamas were progressing in parallel.
This highly unusual frequency of meetings for the cabinet, which usually meets once a week, underlines the growing concern among Israel’s leadership over the sudden collapse of the Assad regime that has ruled Syria with an iron fist for over 40 years.
Despite the rebels’ successes and numerous reports of Syrian army soldiers fleeing without a fight, the Syrian presidential office claimed that Assad “continues his work and tasks from the capital Damascus.” An army spokesman claimed that lines in the south were being reinforced, while the army was carrying out strikes against the rebels in the north.
Despite these efforts seemingly aimed to shore up morale among regime supporters, its most important supporters, Iran and Russia, reportedly began pulling their assets from the country.
The New York Times cited regional and Iranian officials claiming that the Iranian military personnel, diplomats and their families were being evacuated to Iraq, Lebanon and the Syrian coast.
This reportedly included two high-ranking generals of the IRGC’s Quds Force, which together with Hezbollah, had been instrumental in rescuing the Assad regime from certain defeat in the civil war back in 2011.
Russian forces joined the Iranian axis in 2015, turning the tide in the war in Assad’s favor. The Russian military continues to operate several air bases and two military ports on the Syrian coast, which is mainly populated by the Alawite minority – the support base of the Alawite Assad family and its military.
Media reports suggested that Russia had begun withdrawing its ships from the ports on Saturday, potentially indicating it was prepared to give up its more than 50 years-long presence in the country.
Russia has deployed at least 12 outpostsIn the Syrian Golan Heights, near the border with Israel. It seems these forces are in trouble. If the current pace of rebel takeover in southern Syria continues, they will not be able to evacuate to Damascus or to the northwestern region,… pic.twitter.com/IYfmWtPeCG
— Israel-Alma (@Israel_Alma_org) December 7, 2024
It remains unclear whether rebel groups also took control over about a dozen Russian posts located in the Syrian Golan, or the Russian troops withdrew to the north in time.
“Iran and Russia…like Hezbollah, are also significantly weaker than they were,” U.S. Special Envoy Amos Hochstein said at the Doha Forum on Saturday.
The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. officials were set to meet Arab officials to discuss the Syria crisis at the conference.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported that a summit with the participation of Turkey, Iran, Russia, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq, was also set to convene, with the outcome of the talks poised to decide the regime’s fate.
