America and Israel are each taking action to destroy military equipment and terrorist infrastructure in Syria in the wake of the downfall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Over the past 24 hours, American and Israeli air forces have successfully struck more than 300 sites.
U.S. forces targeted ISIS terror camps while Israeli forces were destroying Assad’s military assets to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. This morning, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar confirmed that the IDF destroyed Syrian chemical weapons depots and other strategic sites.
Watch this video of Israeli airstrikes on advanced weapons depots at Mezzeh Airbase in Damascus:
The fall of Assad is a major blow to the Iranian regime, which invested billions of dollars into propping up the regime. Tehran used Syria as a land bridge to ferry weapons and fighters between Iran and Lebanon.
Iran has begun to withdraw its military commanders and personnel from Syria. This comes just days after Iran’s foreign minister was in Damascus offering Tehran’s full support of Assad.
The Atlantic’s Eliot Cohen argues that, other than Assad himself, the “biggest loser” of the tectonic shifts in the region over the last 14 months is Iran.
Asked on CNN how much power Iran has lost in the region following the fall of Assad, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said clearly, “A lot. Look at Iran with their so-called axis of resistance: Hamas decimated, Sinwar is gone, Hezbollah, their leader's gone, Nasrallah's gone, and now, they're in a ceasefire with Israel, and now Assad, their other proxy in the Middle East is gone, and Syria's future very much is an open question.”
“They're looking at a very different Middle East when they're waking up today, and it doesn't include one that has them with the ability to execute any hegemonic ambitions that they had once had,” Kirby added about Iran.
While Iran’s loss of influence in Syria presents opportunities, it also presents serious challenges, including the threat that al-Qaeda-affiliated groups that helped overthrow the regime may seek to solidify their power in the country.
The tectonic geostrategic changes unfolding across the Middle East will have far-reaching implications for America and Israel, and the two allies must work even closer together in the weeks, months and years ahead.
We must redouble our efforts to further strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance and ensure the Jewish state has the resources and support it needs to protect itself amid this upheaval.
We must also work to increase the pressure on Iran as the regime regroups after these strategic losses. America must lead an international effort to enforce crippling sanctions on the regime and increase the pressure on Iran to stop its destabilizing regional activities, end its support for terror groups, and abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
MUST LISTEN
THE END OF ASSAD IN SYRIA - With Nadav Eyal
Dan Senor Call Me Back Podcast
A lot has unfolded in the Middle East over the past 48 hours, with the fall of the Assad regime. Nadav Eyal returns to the podcast today for an emergency episode to discuss the end of Assad’s rule in Syria, and the implications for Israel.
New report on Hamas infiltration of UNRWA schools
The New York Timesreports on new documents that illustrate Hamas’ infiltration of UNRWA schools in Gaza.
“The seized records — coupled with interviews of current and former UNRWA employees, residents and former students in Gaza — offer the most detailed evidence yet of the extent of Hamas’s presence inside UNRWA schools,” the report notes.
Hamas leaders call for its terrorists to use schools and other civilian facilities as “the best obstacles to protect the resistance” from Israeli attack.
At least 24 UNRWA schools in Gaza employed Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorists as teachers and administrators.
UNRWA is a fundamentally broken organization that has proven itself beyond reform. The United States must permanently end funding for this organization and ensure aid to Palestinians is delivered via a mechanism that does not enable terrorism.
Drone from Yemen hits home in Israel
This morning, a drone from Yemen struck an apartment building in Yavne, an Israeli city south of Tel Aviv.
The IDF said the drone approached Israel from the Red Sea before flying over Egypt to avoid detection. An Israeli jet scrambled from a nearby base to intercept the drone but was unable to reach it in time.
New House letter on ICC
Sixteen House Democrats sent a letter to Secretary Blinken urging him to work with our allies to reject the ICC’s “illegitimate, politically motivated, and legally spurious” arrest warrants against Israel.
“Let us be clear: there is no factual or legal basis for the warrants,” the House members write. “This outrageous decision, the first time the ICC has issued warrants for the leader of a democratic country, seeks to punish Israel for fighting to defend its existence in a war it did not start or want.”
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