🇮🇱❌🇸🇾 The IDF stresses that its deployment to the buffer zone between Israel and Syria is a defensive and temporary measure amid the chaos in the country following the fall of the Assad regime.

According to the military, troops are deployed to specific strategic positions in the buffer zone to prevent unidentified gunmen from being in the area.

Over the weekend, gunmen were identified in the buffer zone, including during an incident where a UN post came under attack.

The IDF fears that following the fall of the regime, and with an abundance of weapons in the area, hostile forces could attack Israel.

The military says the move to capture the buffer zone is purely to ensure that attacks aren't carried out against Israel, and it will remain there until the situation is clear.

🔗 Emmanuel Fabian

🇮🇱❌🇸🇾 The Israeli incursion into the Qunaytra governorate so far:

The towns of Qunaytra, Al Hamidiyah, Al-Qahtaniyah, Samadaniya al Gharbiyya and Mount Hermon on the Syrian-Lebanese border were captured by Israeli troops.

Some sources report that the IDF advanced beyond the 1974 disengagement line and captured the town of Khan Arnabah but the veracity of this claim is disputed.

Israeli artillery and warplanes have been bombing targets in the Qunaytra, Daraa, Suwayda and Damascus governorates for hours.

@CIG_telegram

🇮🇱❌🇸🇾 Israel has used the collapse of the Syrian Arab Republic to destroy Syrian military bases and infrastructure as well as to expand its borders.

Israel had previously bombed the Mazzeh airbase in the past but today's bombing is unprecedented and clearly has the full intent to make it unusable by any future Syrian administration.

@CIG_telegram

🇸🇾 Current map of Syria prior to the Israeli invasion of the UNDOF demilitarized zone

@CIG_telegram

🇮🇱🤝🇸🇾 Israeli Minister of foreign affairs, Gideo Saar, on X:

I spoke today with my friend Jan Lipavsky, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs. We discussed the events and the situation in Syria.

I emphasized the need to ensure the safety of the Kurdish minority in Syria, who are still facing attacks. The Kurds fought bravely against ISIS and the international community must ensure their protection from attacks by radical Islamists.

🔗 Gideon Saar

🇸🇾 Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler's answer to a question about the Free Syrian Army 1 month ago:

Army that you call the Free Syrian Army will be the army of the Syrian Republic.

🔗 Clash Report

#BREAKING

🇷🇺🇸🇾❗️ — Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family members arrived in Moscow, Russia granted them asylum, a source in the Kremlin told TASS.

"Assad and members of his family arrived in Moscow. Russia, based on humanitarian considerations, granted them asylum," the agency's source said.

https://t.me/tass_agency/289802

🇸🇾 Ex-Syrian PM to supervise state bodies until transition, al-Julani says

The leader of the main armed opposition group in Syria says former Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali will supervise state institutions until they are handed over, as fighters declared an end to Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/8/ex-syrian-pm-to-supervise-state-bodies-until-transition-al-julani-says

🇹🇷🚕🇸🇾 — Photos are reportedly from the Turkish Syrian borders, according to reports thousands of Syrians are returning to Syria following the regime's fall

🇸🇾❌🇸🇾 The SNA forced the SDF to abandon the towns of Al Arimah and Manbij following unrest among local Arabs.

The SNA now dominates the northern countryside of Aleppo.

@CIG_telegram

🇮🇱❌🇸🇾 The IDF captured the towns, Baath and Hadder in Qunaytra governorate.

Israeli tanks advanced near Khan Arnaba but have yet to seize control of the town.

In conjunction with these operations, Israeli fighter jets have conducted over 100 airstrikes targeting Syrian army military installations and weapons depots.

🔗 IWN

🇮🇱📞🇸🇾 — The Israeli defense minister orders establishing contacts with the Druze population in southern Syria

🇹🇷 🇸🇾 🇮🇱 Neo-Ottomanism in Syria | CIG #commentary

After Iraq, Iran, and Turkey defeated ISIS in 2017, they invaded Iraqi Kurdistan. This move enabled Turkish forces to expand militarily and establish many bases within Iraqi borders. With Assad gone, Syria's Kurdish government has an uncertain future.

The SDF in Northern Syria have built their house on sand. Many pro-FSA Arabs live in the northeast, and much of the SDF itself (2nd column from the right) is composed of such fifth column elements. A joint Syrian-Turkish invasion would likely be accepted as a liberation war.

US & Israeli officials are worried about defending a land corridor in Syria to prevent regional actors such as Turkey, Iran, and various Islamist factions from posing a threat to Israel.

Such a corridor would interfere with Turkey's strategic goals in Syria, especially just after an exhaustingly long civil war and newly found Turkish political dominance in the country. It is unlikely that Turkey would let this opportunity pass them by.

Meanwhile, Israel is perhaps over-extending itself during a lengthy multi-front war, as US-competitors Iran & Russia seem to remain steadfast after trading Assad for the new government in Syria established by the FSA.

Since Israel is conquering land over claims from thousands of years ago, does it not set precedent for Turkey to project Syrian sovereignty over Ottoman-era boundaries? Both armies are on the move now, and Assad is no longer in between them. What happens next? Enter Trump:

Situated in Golan Heights, the aptly named Trump Heights settlement symbolizes the intense involvement that the next Trump administration will have in the region. Rather than pivoting US strategic positioning to East Asia, Trump will have his hands full with Syria and Israel.

Dealing with Syria for Trump means dealing with Turkey. Many of Trump's allies have a very CENTCOM-centric focus on foreign policy. Keeping Neocons out of his admin is crucial in preventing the US from being bogged down in a forever war fueled by ancient blood grievances.

The factions that overthrew Assad in Syria are not unipolar either. Jolani's HTS is gaining distance from Turkey relative to the SNA by playing good cop with the SDF. The Southern Front & SFA are more secular and aligned with US/Israel forces.

Turkey will have to stabilize Syria first and may have to begrudgingly accept HTS primacy among other factions, along with supporting Jolani's legitimacy. Thereby choosing friendship with the HTS rather than completely losing them over failed attempts to control his territory.

Lastly, some have theorized that Israel and Turkey agreed to partition Syria. Something akin to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the ramifications it had for Poland.

@CIG_telegram

https://fxtwitter.com/franciscvs2/status/1865845871734063556

🇩🇪🇸🇾 German state-media, DPA on X:

Germany is halting decisions on asylum applications from Syrian citizens after Syria's former ruler Bashar al-Assad fled the country, a spokesman for the Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) tells dpa

🔗 Deutsche Press Agentur

🇩🇪🇦🇹🇬🇷🇸🇾 — Austria, Germany and Greece suspend Syrian asylum applications