Israel aims to destroy Syria’s heavy strategic weaponry after Assad’s ouster

Israel will step up air strikes on Syrian stores of advanced weaponry, Israeli officials said on Monday, and keep a “limited” troop presence on the ground, hoping to head off any threat that could emerge in the fallout of president Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow.

Israel has watched the upheaval in Syria with a mixture of hope and concern as it weighs the consequences of one of the most significant strategic shifts in the Middle East in years.

“We are taking all the actions necessary to try to ensure our security with regard to the new situation in Syria,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters in a late-night press conference at his office without going into detail.

While Assad’s fall wiped out a bastion from which Israel’s arch-foe Iran had exercised influence in the region, the lightning advance of a disparate group of rebel forces with roots in the Islamist ideology of al-Qaeda poses risks.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would “destroy heavy strategic weapons throughout Syria, including surface-to-air missiles, air defence systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range rockets, and coastal missiles”.

A senior Israeli official said air strikes would persist in the coming days, while Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had no interest in interfering in internal Syrian affairs and was concerned only with defending its citizens.