The Sunni radicals that have taken over Syria are demanding that all Israeli forces must leave Syrian territory. \u00a0On the other side, the IDF is hammering military targets in southern Syria with a blistering wave of airstrikes, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that any military forces aligned with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will not be allowed south of Damascus. \u00a0Do you understand what this means? \u00a0It means that Damascus is now right on the front lines of a conflict between Israel and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that is rapidly heating up. \u00a0If all-out war erupts, Damascus is likely to be absolutely devastated.<\/p>\n
Of course many prominent buildings in Damascus have already been turned into piles of rubble, but now it appears that things could be about to go to the next level.<\/p>\n
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has confirmed that IDF airstrikes are being conducted in southern Syria, and he is warning<\/a> that any attempt by forces aligned with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to enter\u00a0the security zone in southern Syria \u201cwill be met with fire\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n Israel confirmed it is conducting strikes in southern Syria, as the new Syrian government calls for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territory.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will not allow southern Syria to become southern Lebanon,\u201d Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said regarding the strikes. \u201cAny attempt by the Syrian regime forces and the country\u2019s terrorist organizations to establish themselves in the security zone in southern Syria will be met with fire.\u201d<\/p>\n Katz said the Israeli Air Force is \u201cnow attacking strongly in southern Syria as part of the new policy we have defined of pacifying southern Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So just how large is the security zone in southern Syria?<\/p>\n According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, no Syrian military forces will be allowed to \u201center the area south of Damascus\u201d<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n In a speech to Israeli military cadets on Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israel would not allow the forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) \u2013 the Islamist group that led the overthrow of Assad \u2013 nor the new Syrian army that is being formed to \u201center the area south of Damascus\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe demand the complete demilitarisation of southern Syria in the provinces of Quneitra, Deraa and Suweida from the forces of the new regime,\u201d he added. \u201cLikewise, we will not tolerate any threat to the Druze community in southern Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n He also said that Israeli forces would remain indefinitely inside the Syrian territory that they have seized since Assad\u2019s fall last December \u2013 which would be a shift in Israeli strategy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Wow.<\/p>\n To call this \u201ca shift in Israeli strategy\u201d is a major understatement.<\/p>\n The forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will be allowed to control Damascus, but they will not be allowed to come any farther than that.<\/p>\n Needless to say, the leaders of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are not too keen on that idea.<\/p>\n To me, it appears that a showdown is inevitable.<\/p>\n Of course the truth is that war has already begun. \u00a0As\u00a0Zero Hedge has noted<\/a>, the IDF has been pummeling targets inside Syria for months\u2026<\/p>\n Since that early December regime change, Israel has bombed sites all across Syria \u2013 in literally hundreds of operations \u2013 largely targeting former Syrian Army bases, weapons storehouses, parked aircraft, and chemical weapons production sites<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Given that Syria had for over half-a-century been Israel\u2019s number one Iran-aligned foe, and long had the best anti-air defenses in the region, Israel has sought to make sure it can never return to that status again<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile, the Egyptians have been mobilizing forces in the Sinai Peninsula, and\u00a0one Israeli official is expressing concern that this could potentially become an \u201ceighth front\u201d<\/a> in the war\u2026<\/p>\n Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often spoken about the seven-front war that Israel has been fighting since the Hamas massacre and kidnappings on October 7th, 2023.<\/p>\n Recently, however, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter expressed concern about a potential eighth front in the war: a military buildup by the Egyptian military in the Sinai Peninsula.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Talk of moving the Palestinians out of Gaza is the primary reason why the Egyptians are freaking out.<\/p>\n And President Trump poured more fuel on that fire this week by posting an AI-generated video<\/a> of what \u201cTrump Gaza\u201d might look like\u2026<\/p>\n\n
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