Israeli forces destroyed the Syrian military fleet in an operation on Monday night as part of a broad campaign to eliminate strategic threats to Israel, defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday, during a visit to a naval base in Haifa.

“The IDF (military) has been operating in Syria in recent days to strike and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the State of Israel. The navy operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet with great success,” Katz said.

Reuters reports that in a statement he said Israeli forces were establishing themselves in the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and said he had ordered a “sterile defensive zone” to be created in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence, to prevent any terrorist threat to Israel.

    • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I want to preface this by saying I am absolutely not a fan of Donald Trump, but he is about to be sworn in as president again in about a month and he genuinely doesn’t give a shit about America or American influence in the Middle East.
      If Saudi Arabia wants to dismantle Israel, all they’ll have to do is let him slap his name on a few luxury hotels there and he’ll look the other way.

      • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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        1 day ago

        Maybe. He and important members of his coalition have been very supportive of Israel in the past. I don’t think it’s as simple as you say. Some of the isolationism the coming out of his mouth is more myth than reality I think.