Transcript [00:00] Hey everyone. So, there have been some [00:03] mysterious explosions taking place all [00:06] over Syria over the course of the last [00:08] month. The most recent one was reported [00:10] just yesterday, and that's what led me [00:12] to make this video. So, without further [00:14] ado, let's just let the headlines speak [00:16] for themselves, and we'll try to figure [00:18] out what is going on there. Here we go. [00:20] Explosions at Aleppo munitions depot in [00:24] Syria injures four. [00:27] At least four people were injured [00:29] following a series of explosions at an [00:31] Aleppo army site in northern Syria early [00:34] Monday. Yesterday, state media reported [00:37] the cause of the explosions, which which [00:39] Syrian state media sana said occurred at [00:42] an army site in the vicinity of the town [00:44] of Alice was not immediately known. [00:49] Right. Uh, one civilian was injured by [00:51] shrapnel as a result of the explosion at [00:53] an ammunition depot. Ser reported later [00:57] quoting the Ministry of Emergency and [00:58] Disaster Management. Okay, now this so [01:02] this was reported yesterday and here's [01:05] the thing. It is one of a number of [01:08] these similar incidents happening over [01:10] the last month. Let me go through them. [01:11] Everything I'm going to show you is from [01:13] September. And what's today? September [01:15] 22nd. So let's take a look. Uh this one [01:18] is from September 1st. At least five [01:21] killed, several injured after amoladen [01:24] vehicle explodes in Syria's Idlib [01:27] province. At least five people were [01:29] killed and several others wounded after [01:32] a vehicle loaded with ammunition [01:34] exploded in the town of Binish in [01:36] Syria's northwestern Idlib province on [01:39] Tuesday. According to Syrian authorities [01:41] and reports by the Syrian Arab news [01:42] agency SANA and the state broadcaster, [01:45] Syrian media did not comment on which [01:47] Syrian faction owned the ammunition that [01:50] was being held in the vehicle, [01:52] which faction owned it. You see, because [01:54] once you get into the northern part of [01:56] Syria, it's uh gets a little hairy out [01:59] there. There's a lot of different still [02:01] a lot of different militias running [02:02] around. It remains unclear at the time [02:04] of writing whether the explosion was [02:05] accidental in nature or a deliberate [02:08] explosion as a car bomb. [02:12] Okay, that so that's September 1st. And [02:16] then here, this is September 9th. Syrian [02:18] arms depot explosion kills at least 14. [02:22] Syrian authorities reported that at [02:23] least 14 people were killed and another [02:25] 11 wounded on Wednesday as a result of [02:27] an explosion in the at a temporary site [02:31] temporary site used to store weapons and [02:34] remnants of the country's longrunning [02:36] civil war. The explosion took place near [02:39] the city of Sarmada in northwestern [02:41] Idlib province. Syria's defense ministry [02:44] said the weapons and war remnants were [02:46] being stored temporarily. Another [02:48] temporary storage site, right? This is [02:50] this is a temporary this is a temporary [02:52] storage site. Um sorry this one was an [02:55] explosion uh on the in a car in in a [02:58] vehicle. This was a temporary storage [02:59] site. This is an army site. Okay. So [03:03] let's finish up with this story [03:05] at the before being transported [03:07] elsewhere. It said that some of its [03:09] personnel were among those wounded. The [03:11] explosion in an area full of volatile [03:14] materials led to secondary explosions [03:16] and fires that hampered the emergency [03:18] response. Smoke billowed from the blast [03:20] site for some time on Wednesday. There [03:22] you see it. Look at that. Wow. The toll [03:25] from the explosion in a temporary [03:26] storage for collecting weapons and war [03:28] remnants near the city of Sarmata [03:30] registered 14 killed and 11 injured in a [03:33] preliminary count, said the official [03:35] statement of the health department. And [03:37] now September 19th, are you keeping [03:41] count? This is the fourth one. I mean [03:44] yesterday this was the fourth one. This [03:45] was the third one, but this is the [03:46] fourth one I'm showing you. September [03:47] 19th, just a few days before this last [03:49] one, Syria says 11 soldiers killed in [03:52] Friday's blast at army site in Dear [03:54] Ezor. Yes, that is a different incident [03:56] than the one we started with from [03:58] yesterday. The Syrian Defense Ministry [04:00] said Saturday that 11 soldiers were [04:02] killed in Friday's explosion at an army [04:04] site in the Aayash area west of Derzor [04:07] province in northern Syria. Andulu [04:09] reports the authorities have not yet [04:10] disclosed the cause or circumstances of [04:14] the blast. Now, what could possibly have [04:15] caused them? So, you might be thinking, [04:16] "Oh, it must be the Israelis." We'll get [04:18] into that in a moment. But before we get [04:19] to that, um, let me remind you, if [04:22] you're new to this channel, let me tell [04:23] you about a very exciting trip that [04:26] we're planning at Israel 365, Israel [04:28] behind the headlines tour. If you want a [04:31] once- ina-lifetime unique trip to [04:34] Israel, this is it. Myself and Dr. David [04:37] Worms. Dr. Wormser is a former adviser [04:40] in multiple white houses, national [04:41] security council, held positions in the [04:44] State Department and uh is is currently [04:47] senior analyst for the Middle East at [04:49] the Center for Security Policy and also [04:51] a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for [04:54] Security and Foreign Affairs. One of the [04:57] world's leading experts in the Middle [04:58] East. I have a weekly conversation with [05:00] him on the Israel 365 News Channel. If [05:02] you're not catching those, you got to [05:03] catch those. But we are hosting a trip [05:05] to Israel. 8 days March 7th through [05:08] 14th. An exclusive five-star [05:11] accommodations luxury trip to Israel [05:13] with highlevel meetings and briefings [05:16] throughout. We will be visiting the [05:18] Lebanese border, the Syrian border, the [05:21] Gaza border. We're going to be meeting [05:22] with community leaders, political [05:24] figures, um leading journalists. It's [05:28] really going to be an incredible trip, [05:29] military figures, an amazing amazing [05:32] trip with access to people and decision [05:34] makers unlike any trip you you could [05:37] find anywhere. [05:39] So, this is a very special trip. We're [05:41] limiting it to under 20 participants. [05:43] People are already signing up. If you're [05:44] interested in this, please check the [05:46] link in the description of this video [05:48] and uh and click on it and go and go see [05:51] if this is for you. That's March 7th [05:52] through 14th. Okay. Syria investigating [05:56] possible Israeli involvement in weapons [05:58] depot explosions. This is from [06:00] yesterday. The latest blast near Aleppo [06:02] follows explosions that killed 11 people [06:04] in Derzor and 14 in northwest Syria. [06:07] Damascus has not yet publicly accused [06:09] Israel. Syrian authorities are examining [06:10] possible Israeli involvement in a series [06:12] of unexplained explosions at military [06:14] weapons depots after powerful blasts [06:17] rocked a Syrian army facility south of [06:19] Aleppo. This is according to a Syrian [06:21] source close to the government who told [06:23] Harareets that Israeli involvement was [06:26] among the possibilities being [06:27] investigated. But they have not Damascus [06:29] has not yet publicly accused Israel of [06:32] the incidents. Well, isn't that [06:33] interesting? They haven't yet publicly [06:34] accused them. But Israel is doing other [06:37] things in Syria. This is a completely [06:39] different explosion. And this is from [06:41] yesterday, [06:42] sorry, from two days ago. Israeli forces [06:44] blow up exregime sites in southwestern [06:47] Syria. Israel is doing that. So, Israeli [06:50] forces on Sunday demolished military [06:52] installations formerly used by the [06:54] deposed Assad regime near Jeal Castle on [06:57] Mount Arman in southwestern Syria and [06:59] shelled positions in the Katra [07:01] countryside. Syrian state media reported [07:03] no casualties were confirmed from either [07:05] attack. U meaning this is the Israelis [07:08] destroying old infrastructure. You see, [07:10] ever since the Assad regime fell, you [07:12] might remember at the end of 2024 when [07:14] it fell, ever since it fell, the [07:15] Israelis went about destroying all of [07:18] the uh all of the equipment [07:21] uh major equipment, minor equipment, [07:24] infrastructure of the Syrian military [07:26] because they did not want it to fall [07:27] into the hands of these various jihadist [07:30] groups that would take control of Syria [07:32] as they have. And um Israel has [07:35] deliberately and openly bombed attempts [07:38] uh by the Syrians to recreate air [07:41] defenses. I've talked about that. The [07:44] reason that they're specifically fixated [07:46] on air defenses is that the Israelis [07:48] need freedom of act of activity in the [07:51] skies above Syria in order to have an [07:53] open corridor to carry out whatever [07:56] bombing raids they they they intend to [07:59] still carry out in Iran. when the [08:01] Israelis achieved air dominance over the [08:04] Iranian skies over the Middle East [08:06] really in the 12-day war, they have [08:08] never really relinquished it. So, every [08:09] time this the Syrians try to uh rebuild [08:12] air defenses, the Israelis take them [08:14] out. And that is well known. That's [08:15] open. The Israelis bombed an airport [08:17] where the Turks were, you know, were [08:20] present there. And that was, you might [08:22] remember that that was there was a lot [08:24] of talk about that last month. But these [08:26] explosions that we're talking about at [08:28] these at these munitions depot are [08:29] something else. So what is causing them? [08:31] So here's a piece, interesting source. [08:33] This is from Al Jazer. I don't usually [08:35] go there, but they have some interesting [08:36] analysis. And this was an interesting [08:39] piece. Poor storage or sabotage. Series [08:41] of explosions in Syria raises fears. [08:45] Okay. And this is from yesterday. A [08:47] series of explosions at weapons and [08:48] ammunition sites across Syria this month [08:52] have exposed the difficulties facing the [08:55] country's military in storing and moving [08:57] munitions as the armed forces rebuild [08:59] after more than a decade of war. The [09:01] latest blasts injured at least four [09:03] people in the early hours of Monday [09:05] morning yesterday at an arms depot in [09:07] Alas south of Aleppo. According to a [09:10] tally by the Reuters news agency, at [09:12] least 16 similar explosions have hit [09:15] arms storage facilities in the since the [09:18] fall of uh the Assad regime in December [09:21] 2024 after an opposition offensive. Some [09:24] have attributed to poor some have been [09:27] attributed to poor storage conditions. [09:29] The Syrian Defense Ministry said it is [09:31] investigating the causes behind the [09:33] recurrent explosions to prevent future [09:35] incidents. [09:37] the explosions. Quote, "The explosions [09:39] could have happened due to neglect." [09:41] This expert said, "The Syrian army is [09:43] receiving much more military aid than [09:45] ever before. It gained control over the [09:47] stockpiles of the former regime and the [09:50] formerly USbacked Syrian Democratic [09:52] Forces, that's the Kurdish forces in the [09:54] northeast. The increase in quantity, [09:57] coupled with the need to protect weapons [09:59] from potential Israeli air strikes, may [10:01] have pushed the Syrian army to store [10:03] weapons in inadequate places. Syrian [10:06] army has yet to become a professional [10:08] army. These explosions are not the first [10:11] that happen in Syria. [10:13] Before the fall of Assad, similar things [10:16] happened many times in Syria. But I [10:18] don't think these explosions will affect [10:20] Syria's military capabilities in any [10:22] visible way. It's merely a loss of some [10:24] stockpiles that can be replenished, [10:27] which is probably a good uh good reason [10:30] for this not to be the Israelis. These [10:32] aren't out for just destroying, you [10:35] know, piles of munitions of of low-level [10:38] munitions. They're interested in [10:40] ballistic missiles. They're interested [10:42] in just they wanted to make sure the air [10:44] force was gone. They want to make sure [10:45] there's no air defenses, no [10:47] surfaceto-air missiles. Those are the [10:48] things the Israelis care about. [10:51] Weapons and ammunition by their nature [10:53] need to be handled extremely carefully [10:55] and stored properly. Storing large [10:58] quantities of aging ammunition for years [11:01] in poor conditions such as high [11:04] temperatures or humidity can accelerate [11:06] their deterioration and lead them to [11:08] become unstable. They can actually just [11:10] blow up in the wrong conditions. Quote, [11:12] "The current warehouse infrastructure [11:14] suffers from severe aging, most of it [11:16] dates back decades, and does not meet [11:18] international safe storage standards," [11:20] said security expert Ismat Alabsi. [11:23] Storing aging munitions in open or [11:25] semi-closed environments without [11:27] controlled cooling and humidity systems [11:29] creates what we call a thermal runway [11:32] chain runway chain reaction. [11:36] Okay. And um nevertheless, some people [11:39] think that it's sabotage. Is it the [11:41] Israelis? Is it not the Israelis? Um [11:44] they're all happening around the same [11:46] time. Are these weapons being moved [11:48] around in order to secure them? Are they [11:52] being taken by different groups and [11:53] moved to different storage places which [11:55] aren't adequate which leads to their [11:57] explosions? Unclear [12:00] what this all means. Let me just share [12:02] with you one last news item that is not [12:04] directly about the explosions but it is [12:06] about what's going on in Syria which is [12:08] that this week is of course the United [12:10] Nations General Assembly. And look at [12:13] this. Syria's president meets members of [12:15] Congress in New York. [12:18] The Syrian Arab Republic's president, [12:20] Ahmed Shara, met a number of members of [12:22] the US Congress in New York on Monday on [12:24] the sidelines of the UN General [12:25] Assembly. Discussions were held on [12:27] relations between the two countries and [12:29] the situation in Syria alongside [12:31] regional and international developments [12:33] while members of Congress affirmed their [12:35] support for Syria's unity and [12:37] sovereignty, as well as efforts towards [12:39] reconstruction, recovery, and enhancing [12:41] stability. I don't know what that even [12:43] means, if they know what's going on [12:44] there. Syria is a very unstable country. [12:46] We now see this rash of explosions about [12:48] a month month and a half ago. Oh, do you [12:50] remember when um when Macron was in [12:53] Syria, was in Damascus and there was a [12:55] terrorist attack right near his hotel [12:57] and I so I made a video back then about [13:00] a wave of explosions of terrorist [13:02] attacks taking place across Syria. So [13:04] these might be these munition these [13:07] explosions might be sabotage, might be [13:09] the Israelis, might be just poor storage [13:12] conditions. [13:14] Um, it could be different militias [13:16] attacking each other's weapons because [13:19] as much as we're led to believe that [13:21] Ahmed Ashara is now sort of governing [13:23] Syria, he's not. It's a chaotic mess. [13:27] So, yeah, Ashara is trying to convince [13:30] the world that this is a stable place [13:32] worth investing in. Stabilize it. We'll [13:34] see. We'll see where things go with [13:35] Syria, but the Israelis are certainly [13:38] not going to take any chances and [13:39] they're going to make sure that they [13:40] look out for the interests, the security [13:43] interests of the state of Israel. Okay, [13:45] this one's much shorter than usual. Uh, [13:47] but I said what I had to say. Just [13:49] wanted to update you on this this rash [13:51] of strange explosions in Syria. We'll be [13:53] watching this to see what comes out of [13:55] it. It'll be interesting to see if at [13:57] some point the Syrians do blame the [13:59] Israelis, although they're not trying to [14:01] inflame tensions with Israel. [14:03] They're certainly not. You have to say [14:05] that for them. Uh they're trying to, you [14:08] know, play, you know, you know, play [14:10] good boy. And that's also leading, it's [14:13] very smart diplomacy because it's [14:14] leading a lot of other other countries [14:16] to look at Israel and say, "Come on, [14:18] this guy's being a good boy. Why are you [14:19] so why are you overreacting? Why are you [14:21] treating him? Why are you treating him [14:23] like a jihadist?" [14:26] Um, but again, Israel's Israel is not [14:29] going to take any chances. I I'll I'll [14:30] add in that Israel's security doctrine [14:36] changed and the world has not really [14:38] adjusted to it yet. It changed after [14:41] October 7th. And this is not just my [14:44] speculation. This is this has been [14:45] stated in many different ways, many [14:48] different times by both Prime Minister [14:50] Netanyahu and our defense minister. [14:54] Israel security doctrine for decades [14:56] before October 7th was [15:01] built on [15:03] an assessment of whether or not our [15:06] enemies are deterred? [15:08] Um like are they deterred? Do they have [15:11] an interest in fighting? These types of [15:13] questions, assessing their motives, [15:15] assessing their level of deterrence. [15:19] And [15:21] you know that's what that's part of what [15:23] led to the October 7th attacks. Uh in [15:26] the in the dissection of them that's [15:28] happened since then. There was an [15:29] assessment made by the security [15:31] establishment and I'm not claiming that [15:33] you know you know hindsight is always [15:35] 2020. I don't want to I don't want to [15:36] litigate you know the what happened then [15:40] but but suffice it to say that there was [15:43] definitely a prevailing assessment and [15:46] this was on right and on the left. Prime [15:47] Minister Netanyahu was part of this too. [15:50] Assessing our enemies level of [15:52] motivation. Are do they want to attack [15:54] now? Do they have more to lose by [15:56] attacking us? These types of questions [15:58] were always being asked. Israel no [16:00] longer entertains those questions. [16:02] Israel's assessment of threats is now [16:05] based entirely on capabilities. [16:09] Does a country that has belligerent [16:12] motives towards us or an entity that has [16:15] belligerent motives towards us, when I [16:17] say entity, I mean uh you know terrorist [16:20] organizations or whatever, [16:23] do our enemies have capabilities that [16:26] can harm us or limit our or limit our uh [16:29] our freedom of operation in the case of [16:31] Syrian air defenses? And the answer and [16:33] if it's yet the answer is yes, we take [16:35] them out. Period. And that's why we're [16:37] no longer going to be trusting things [16:39] like UNIFIL, [16:42] you know, to keep the peace or trusting [16:45] the Lebanese to reign inbah or disarm [16:48] themselves. No, Israel's new doctrine is [16:51] we will deal with threats based on [16:53] capabilities. If there are capabilities [16:56] that can harm us, we will take out those [16:57] capabilities. Period. Um and uh and [17:00] Ahmed Ashara still does not recognize [17:02] the state of Israel. is not recognized. [17:03] Syria has never recognized the [17:04] sovereignty and legitimacy of the state [17:06] of Israel and therefore Israel has no [17:08] nothing to apologize for. If it is in [17:10] fact taking out weapons depots because [17:12] if you have a country that's officially [17:13] at war with you then, you know, and they [17:17] have weapons and they're building up [17:20] weapons, then sure, take them out. So [17:23] again, I don't know if this is the [17:24] Israelis or if it's just uh it's just, [17:27] you know, these uh it's just bad [17:29] storage. We don't know what's causing [17:31] these explosions, but it's certainly a [17:34] story worth watching. All right, thanks [17:36] for watching. Make sure you subscribe to [17:37] this channel and make sure that you are [17:40] also subscribed to the Israel 365 news [17:42] channel. You definitely want to catch [17:43] the weekly conversations I have with Dr. [17:45] Worms are there. They're amazing. Um, [17:48] and uh we just uh we just recorded [17:50] another one today. We usually record on [17:52] Sundays, but because of Yum Kipur, [17:54] things were a little off this week. Uh, [17:57] but make sure that you're catching all [17:58] the great content we're putting up [17:59] there. All right, God bless. Thanks for [18:00] watching.
