Israel has said it carried out airstrikes on ‘strategic weapons systems’ inside Syria and that ground troop operations on Syrian territory were a ‘limited, temporary’ step. It came as the Kremlin said it had been Vladimir Putin’s personal decision to grant Bashar al-Assad asylum in Russia. Israel has watched the rapid overthrow of Assad’s government with a mixture of hope and concern as officials weigh the consequences of one of the most significant strategic shifts in the Middle East in years
