Israel said it carried out strikes against chemical weapons and missile-storage sites in Syria, describing the move as a preventive measure to ensure the safety of citizens after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.

Opposition groups led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which captured Damascus over the weekend, are people with "an extreme ideology of radical Islam," Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said in a briefing on Monday. The Israel Defense Forces targeted weapons systems, including chemical, so "they will not fall in the hands of extremists," he said.

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