While Joe Biden was announcing he would work with “partners in the area to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons,” the Israeli Defense Forces had already done it

That was their first target, on Sunday, Dec. 8th. A day later, the IDF destroyed the Assad regime’s storage sites housing long-range missiles, both surface-to-surface and air-to-surface, and its weapons research facilities, and hit Syria’s three main military airbases, destroying many dozens of fighter jets and helicopters.

Hugh Fitzgerald It also hit weapons production and research facilities. As Assad was ousted, Israeli jets destroyed his deadly arsenals before they could fall to al-Qaeda-linked rebels who ousted the Syrian president. In short, these were the results of IAF attacks from Saturday to early Monday: the destruction of all chemical weapons stores and production plants, weapons research offices, missile storehouses and manufacturing plants.

By Tuesday, the IAF had hit a total of 310 targets, which included the military airbases at Homs, Qamishli and Damascus, as well as weapons depots and other strategic military sites. On Tuesday morning, the IAF destroyed Syria’s navy at Latakia. Now Syria is essentially without either an air force or a navy; both have been blown to smithereens.

The Israelis, of course, have made themselves, and everyone else threatened by Islamic fundamentalists, safer by destroying these weapons that could, at some future time, fall into the hands of ISIS and similar groups. The Israelis cannot bet their security on the possibility that rebel leader Mohamed al-Jolani is in truth a moderate as he now claims to be, or other members of his Hayat Tahrir al-Shams jihad group are similarly moderate.

The IDF estimates that, as of early on Tuesday, some 70%-80% of the capabilities of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s military have been destroyed. And on Tuesday, too, the Israeli Air Force sank Syria’s navy at Latakia.

Let the Western heathens rage. The IDF has made the world safer.

FIVE facts about Syria’s radical Islamic rebel group – HTS – and its leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani

1. Jolani founded HTS after breaking away from al-Qaeda

Jolani established HTS after severing ties with al-Qaeda in 2016. This rebranding marked a strategic shift as Jolani distanced his group, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, from transnational jihadist goals, according to PBS Frontline.

Jolani’s trajectory as a militant began in Iraq, where he rose through the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) before founding Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria with the support of ISI’s successor, IS.

2. HTS is a foreign terrorist organization, according to the U.S. State Department

The U.S. designated HTS as a terrorist organization in 2018, citing its history of human rights abuses and alleged links to jihadist ideology. That same year, the U.S. government imposed a $10 million bounty on the head of HTS’ leader, who has been designated as a terrorist since 2013.

Jolani has claimed that HTS’ fight is not against Western nations but is focused on overthrowing the Assad regime. However, the group’s history is intertwined with extremist activities that have targeted U.S. forces in the past.

Jolani was arrested in Iraq by U.S. forces in 2006 due to his involvement with the Islamic State of Iraq, where he was a member before rising to more significant roles within the jihadist movement, according to Al Jazeera. His experiences during five-year detention likely provided him with insights into counter-terrorism tactics and the geopolitical dynamics that he later used in the Syrian conflict.

 Before its rebranding, Jabhat al-Nusra was involved in grave human rights violations, such as the 2015 massacre of Druze villagers, which its leader later described as the result of a rogue commander’s actions.