The collapse of the Assad regime has prompted a punishing military response from Israel, which has launched airstrikes at military targets across Syria and deployed ground troops both into and beyond a demilitarized buffer zone for the first time in 50 years.

Israeli warplanes pounded military sites in Syria after Israeli troops seized a border buffer zone following the collapse of President Bashar Assad’s rule. Israel denied its forces were advancing Tuesday toward the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Israel says it is striking Syrian military sites to keep them out of “the hands of extremists.” The rebels who toppled the Assad government began laying out their plans while rival groups fought fierce battles for territory.

Bloomberg’s national security editor Nick Wadhams talks about some of the choices facing the US and other nations as a result of the turmoil in Syria (Source: Bloomberg)

For more than a decade, the United States has sought to keep out of Syria's political debacle, seeing no viable partner.The United States needs to address real concerns about the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda but "as far as getting involved in arranging the politics of Syria,