A massive explosion shook the Syrian port city of Tartus overnight after an apparent Israeli airstrike, raising new scrutiny of Israel’s actions in Syria since the overthrow of Assad.
Footage of the explosion was released as Israel announced plans to double the population of the occupied Golan Heights, citing threats from Syria. The move drew international condemnation and came after Syrian opposition leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani said he had no interest in getting involved in a new conflict.
The London-based war monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the images emerging from Tartus represented “the most violent Israeli attack on military facilities in the eastern region of Tartus.”
In a video circulating on social media on Monday, massive explosions can be seen across the Syrian skyline.
NBC News was able to geolocate that the footage was taken from the Tartus port area, pointing to the mountains northeast of the city, and that NASA satellites showed the aftermath of the fire in an area just over nine miles from the port. Detected.
The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the video. However, an Israeli official who reviewed the video said the fireball was likely the result of a secondary explosion, citing the possibility that munitions caught fire after the Israeli attack. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss Israeli airstrikes in Syria.
This comes days after satellite images showed Russian troops packing and dismantling military equipment at Russia’s Tartus naval base and Hmeimim air base, south of Latakia on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s actions in Syria, which continues to carry out intensive bombing of the Palestinian enclave in the Gaza Strip, are aimed at ensuring the country’s security.
“Strengthening the Golan Heights means strengthening the State of Israel, which is especially important at this time,” he said in a statement on Sunday, following the government’s unanimous approval of Israel’s population expansion plan for the region. .
Israel occupied the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East war and then annexed the approximately 460 square miles of territory in 1981 in a unilateral decision not recognized by the international community.
In 2019, then-President Donald Trump moved to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory, breaking with the international community and longstanding U.S. precedent, but this policy shift was not reversed by the Biden administration.
The decision to expand the Israeli population in the Golan Heights comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that the collapse of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime had “created a vacuum on the Israeli border and the buffer zone established by the 1974 U.S. military separation agreement.” This was done in response to the statement. ” stipulates Israel’s withdrawal from the area of Mount Hermon that it occupied during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
“Israel will not allow jihadist groups to fill the vacuum and threaten Israeli communities in the Golan Heights with attacks like the one on October 7.”
Following this warning, Israeli forces announced that they would remain on Mount Hermon (a strategically important mountain that has been in the buffer zone with Syria for decades) through the winter after occupying it.
Jolani said on Saturday that Israel was using false pretexts to justify attacks on the country, according to Reuters. However, he said his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group has no interest in getting involved in a new conflict as it seeks to rebuild the country after the end of Assad’s regime.
HTS, which has roots in Islamic extremist movements, remains a globally designated terrorist organization, and in 2018 the United States placed a $10 million bounty on Jolani’s head.
Former al-Qaeda fighters have projected a more moderate image and promised a Syria that is inclusive of the religions and ethnic groups represented in the country. The Biden administration has said it is considering removing HTS from its list of terrorist organizations.
By Monday, plans to expand the Israeli population of the Golan Heights and Israel’s airstrikes on Syria over the weekend had begun to draw international backlash, with Turkey’s Foreign Ministry denouncing it as “a new phase in Israel’s goals.” Expanding borders through occupation. ”
“Israel’s ongoing actions are seriously undermining efforts to bring peace and stability to Syria and further escalating tensions in the region,” the country said in a statement on Monday.
Last week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on Israel to halt airstrikes in the wake of Assad’s resignation, stating that he was “deeply concerned” by the “recent and widespread violations” of Syria’s sovereignty. This follows the call for the army to march on the
Contributions were made by Mateo Moschella, Omer Bekin and Raf Sánchez.
