Israel Increasing Syrian Drone Surveillance To Monitor Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Israeli Defense Forces have confirmed that they have increased aerial surveillance of Syrian territory to monitor the movement of Syrian Weapons of Mass Destruction. Syria recently threatened that any outside aggression could face retaliation with chemical weapons. Israel has said that they take the warning as a direct threat.

Israeli politicians and military spokespeople have confirmed the surveillance of Bashar el Assad’s military and have warned Syria that if they see an attempted transfer of chemical weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah they will use military force to stop it.

On Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz stated to the press that Israeli intelligence has learned that Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal is still safely in the hands of the President, Bashar el Assad. They stated that there has even been an increase in security at the sites where they are stored.

Israel has warned that if it seems like Assad is losing his grip on power it is likely that terrorist groups like Hezbollah will try to seize the chemical weapons. Syria is believed to have one of the largest arsenals of chemical weapons in the world. Their stockpile includes mustard gas, VX and Sarin.

Israel has a large array of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles at its disposal for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Israel is known to often fly its UAVs over Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. This is the first time they have revealed that they routinely fly them over Syria and reportedly they do so over Iran as well.