— ❗️🇮🇱/🇸🇾 NEW: The IDF has set up checkpoints along the Golan, and all agricultural areas adjacent to the border with Syria have been declared closed military zones.

@Middle_East_Spectator

Less than 6 hours after Assad is deposed, and Israel already occupies a part of Syria.

We knew this was coming.

Very hard to do reliable reporting on this, the rebels aren't reporting anything, just a few pilgrims that are still inside the shrine.

No further reports of fighting in the shrine as of now. Will go to sleep & update later.

Apparently, the number of actual fighters present in the shrine was much less than 50, because this number included some of the civilian pilgrims that were still in the shrine.

The real number of fighters seems to be less than 20. Still, they managed to kill 9 and wound 27 of the attacking rebels, who were several hundreds.

Goodnight.

— Syria's flag changed on Wikipedia.

— ❗️🇮🇱/🇸🇾 NEW: Israeli airstrikes have been reported in 'Mazzeh,' Damascus, and at 'Khalkhalah' Air Base in southwestern Syria.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇱/🇵🇸 NEW: The IDF has announced that 23-year-old Capt. Avraham Ben-Pinchas, a platoon commander in the 46th Battalion of the 401st Brigade, was killed by an anti-tank missile in Rafah, Gaza.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— ❗️🇷🇺/🇸🇾 Statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry:

'We are following the dramatic events in Syria with extreme concern. As a result of negotiations between Bashar al-Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, he decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully

Russia did not participate in these negotiations. At the same time, we appeal to all parties involved with a strong call to renounce the use of violence and resolve all governance issues by political means.

In this regard, the Russian Federation is in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition. We call for respect for the opinions of all ethno-confessional forces of Syrian society, and support efforts to establish an inclusive political process based on the unanimously adopted UN Security Council Resolution 2254.

We expect that these approaches will be taken into account by the UN and all interested players, including in the context of the implementation of the initiative of the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Syria, Georg Pedersen, to urgently organize inter-Syrian inclusive negotiations in Geneva.

At the same time, all necessary measures are being taken to ensure the safety of our citizens in Syria. Russian military bases in Syria are on high alert. There is currently no serious threat to their security.'

@Middle_East_Spectator