[Dargo]

The fall of Assad provides Israel with a prime opportunity to deal with the Syrian army altogether. The new rulers will soon be forced by the airstrikes to repurchase many heavy weapons when building a new armed force. Iraq had to do the same after 2003, when America destroyed many weapons from President Saddam Hussein's army during the invasion. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the fighting in the country, Israel has now destroyed ‘the major military sites’ in the country with its nearly 300 airstrikes. Israel said on Monday that the bombing campaign will last for days, but that it was not intended to interfere in the fighting in the country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel was working to deal with its enemies ‘step by step’. He called Syria ‘the central part of Iran's Axis of Evil’. Netanyahu: ‘We are changing the face of the Middle East. The state of Israel is establishing its status as a centre of power in our region, as it has not been for decades. Whoever cooperates with us reaps many benefits. Whoever attacks us, loses much.’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Syria's new rulers that he will not allow a new Iranian presence in the neighbouring country. He said in a video that the rebels will pay a ‘heavy price’ if, like the previous regime, they decide to give Tehran free rein.

‘If this regime allows Iran to re-establish itself in Syria, approves the transfer of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah or if it attacks us, we will react forcefully,’ Netanyahu said. ‘Then what happened to the previous regime will also happen to this regime.’