New elements are emerging on the military operations that accompanied the fall of the Syrian regime and on those that are now considered necessary to prevent Syrian weapons from falling into the hands of ISIS. The United States, with a statement from the Unified Forces Central Command (Centcom), claimed to have carried out dozens of airstrikes against targets Isis in Syria immediately after the fall of Damascus and the president’s escape to Russia Bashar al-Assad. Between Saturday and Sunday the USA would therefore have struck over 75 targets, including some leaders of the organisation, operational departments, militia concentration camps and logistics centres, so that the armed groups did not take advantage of the situation to carry out military actions and equip themselves of weapons such as drones, missiles and chemical warheads. There are three assets mainly used by the USA, the large bombers B-52 Stratofortress arrived in the Middle East in recent weeks, the Boeing F-15 Strike Eagle and the old but still very effective anti-tank bombers A10. All supported by air tankers and radar aircraft.
Always according to Centcom there would have been no civilian casualties, as specified by its commander, general Michael Erik Kurilla: “We will not allow theIsis to rebuild and take advantage of the current situation in Syria; all military organizations should know that we will hold them accountable if they collaborate or support theIsis in any way.” On Saturday 7 December the outgoing national security advisor, Jake Sullivanhad said the United States would continue to play a role in Syria, where it has deployed troops to fight ISIS since 2014. “There are three things we need to particularly focus on,” he said Sullivan at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, “that the fighting in Syria does not lead to the resurgence ofIsis in the form we have known, and we will take action ourselves, directly and working with the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Kurds, to ensure that this does not happen. But also that our allies in the region, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, others who border Syria, or who could potentially face fallout from what happens, are strong and secure. Finally, that all this does not lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.”
The White House official also said that Hayat Tahrir al-Shamthe main rebel group, had some ties to theIsis and the United States classified it as a terrorist organization in 2018 and that some senior officials from the Washington administration will soon be in the region to “keep the mission active against theIsishelping to ensure stability in eastern Syria, protecting US personnel from any threat, but above all by engaging with all Syrian groups to establish and assist wherever possible the transition from the regime of Assad to an independent sovereign Syria.” There is therefore confirmation that the United States was actively involved with multiple groups in Syria and with partners in the region. “I just want to underline that the future here will be written by the Syrians. We are not developing a political project from Washington” declared Sullivan, who made no secret of the fact that the US is also worried about its arsenal of chemical weapons. Assad. “There are a number of efforts underway in this regard, including with some of our partners in the region who have been involved. So it’s something we’re very focused on, but it’s unlikely that we will deploy additional troops to Syria to address this issue.”
What worries the USA, but also Israel and NATO, is the fact that Syria Assad it produced and possessed chemical weapons, missiles and drones, which were partly hit by US missions so that they would not fall into the hands of ISIS. In particular, the activities of the Cers (Centre for scientific studies and research), which had around 20,000 employees distributed across 26 centres, warehouses and factories which Israel considers a system of “collaboration between Syria-Iran and Hezbollah”, it is no coincidence that those who manned them and guaranteed their safety were the Quds forceswhich are the special departments of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the 9000 Unit of Hezbollah. Some of these structures, those located near the city of Aleppo, had fallen into rebel hands at the end of November, namely the Suleiman Compound and the Defense Factories Compound.
The fighting had also seen the conquest by the forces Hts of the Masyaf testing center located about 30 km west of Hamawhere the 4000 Institute is located, where a precision missile system was apparently being built and where drones, Fateh-110 rockets and ammunition were being built. The Cers it would also be the conservation center for chemical warheads even though in September 2014 the joint OPCW-UN mission for the removal and destruction of what remained of the chemical weapons that Assad had used for the repression of riots. What doubts whether this actually happened is Israel, which reminds its allies that the regime Assad was capable of producing new supplies, so much so that its forces (IDF) had struck these plants several times, including last September.
