Syria’s new administration is carrying out a security crackdown against what it has described as “remnants” of former President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, with operations under way in several parts of the country.

A lightning rebel offensive early this month caught Syria’s ruling clan off guard. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia on December 8, leaving behind many of his collaborators, some of whom sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

Israel is celebrating the fall of Assad because it breaks the noose that Iran had been patiently tightening around Israel’s borders in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Tehran’s pincer is now broken and rendered useless. From the point of view of Israel’s wider conflict with the Islamic Republic, the collapse of Assad’s regime is a strategic victory.

Sana, the state-run Syrian news agency, reported Saturday that “a number of remnants of the Assad militias” were arrested in the coastal Latakia region in western Syria.