Why are Israel, US and Turkey bombing Syria’s airbases after Assad’s fall?

Rebel forces in Syria have taken Damascus in a lightning offensive, and President Bashar al-Assad has fled the country after 13 years of civil war. Given the rebels’ early links to the Islamic State, Western nations are now wary of vast stockpiles of Syrian weapons and tactical sites potentially falling into hostile hands.

Reports of dozens of airstrikes on key targets in Syria emerged over the weekend. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that it has struck more than 75 targets, including ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps, to ensure that the group does not take advantage of the chaotic situation following the end of Assad’s rule.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Monday that the country targeted suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria while asserting that the strikes were aimed at preventing these weapons from falling into hostile hands.

The airstrikes by Israel, the United States, and Turkey, are located near or on key military bases in Syria, aimed at preventing them from being taken over by ISIS. Assad had received vital support from Iran and Russia, as well as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The United States and other Western countries consider the rebel coalition’s leading group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), to be a terrorist organisation.

The US maintains a force of about 900 troops in Syria, centred in Kurdish-controlled oil drilling areas in the northeast and a garrison in the southeast. The US role in the Syrian civil war has shifted several times but has consistently focused on battling the remnants of the Islamic State.

HOW SYRIA’S MAP REDREW WITHIN 2 WEEKS
For more than a decade, Russian and Iranian military support kept Bashar al-Assad in power. Over the last week, Syrian rebel forces seized much of Syria’s northwest. First, the rebels captured Aleppo, then Hama and Homs. On Sunday, they entered Syria’s capital, Damascus, taking the city without a fight as government forces fled.

The conflict started when Syrians rose up peacefully against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in 2011. The protests were met with a violent crackdown, and communities took up arms to defend themselves.

In its early years, rebels, including both Islamist extremists and moderate groups, gained control of much of the country. By 2014, they held strongholds in the northwest, areas near Hama, Damascus, the southeast border with Israel, and parts of the Euphrates and al-Hasakah provinces in the northeast.

In 2014, the rise of the Islamic State and Russia’s military backing for Assad changed the dynamics. The Islamic State expanded its territory into northeastern Syria, while Russian airstrikes forced rebel groups to retreat. Over time, Assad’s forces, supported by fighters from Iran and Hezbollah, regained key areas, including Aleppo in 2016 and towns along the Euphrates in 2017. By 2019–2020, government forces had pushed rebels into Idlib province, creating a stalemate.

This year, the conflict reignited in late November when opposition forces launched a new offensive, advancing toward the capital.