Struck weapons systems

Israel has struck weapons systems and chemical weapons capacity in Syria, foreign minister says

From CNN's Dana Karni and Tim Lister

Israel’s military has attacked “strategic weapons systems, residual chemical weapon capabilities and long-range missiles and rockets” in Syria to prevent them from falling into the hands of extremist groups, foreign minister Gideon Saar said Monday.

Saar told a media briefing that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had also taken “temporary and focused control of strategic areas near the border to prevent a scenario like the October 7 attack from Syria.”

“The Iranian occupation in Syria is over,” Saar said. Assad had long relied on foreign forces rather than the support of his own people, and the end of his rule should not be surprising, the foreign minister added.

“Iran thought it could control the entire region. This aspiration has crashed against the rocks of reality.”

Saar added that it was important to ensure the protection of minorities in Syria: Kurds, Druze, Christians, and also Alawites – the minority that had been the bedrock of the Assad regime.

Saar also said that attacks on the Kurds in northern Syria, which have been carried out over the last week by pro-Turkish rebel factions, must be stopped.

“We, of course, have connections with the Kurds and Druze in Syria,” he added.

On Syria’s future, Saar said that a decade ago he had said that “thinking Syria will remain one country with effective control and sovereignty over all of its territory is unrealistic.”

“The logic is to strive for autonomy for the various minorities in Syria, perhaps with a federal structure.”