The Israeli military announced a series of air strikes targeting military facilities in southern Syria, a move that has raised tensions in the region. These strikes were conducted just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized the need for the complete demilitarization of southern Syria. According to reports from a war monitoring group, at least two individuals were killed in one of the strikes that hit a military unit’s headquarters southwest of Damascus. However, the monitoring group was unable to ascertain whether the deceased were civilian or military personnel.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that their operations focused on military objectives, including command centers and sites believed to contain weapons. In their statement, the IDF underlined that the presence of military assets in southern Syria constitutes a threat to Israeli citizens and vowed to take action to mitigate any such dangers.
Sources from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights detailed that Israeli aircraft executed four distinct strikes on a military unit’s headquarters close to Damascus, while another strike was directed at a military position in the Daraa province. Reports indicated that the strike in Daraa hit Tell al-Hara, a strategically significant hill that overlooks both large portions of the Golan Heights and northern Israel.
This recent wave of strikes follows Netanyahu’s urgent call for the demilitarization of southern Syria, where he expressed deep concern over the presence of forces affiliated with the newly established Syrian Islamist-led government, particularly in the context of the HTS organization. Netanyahu’s statements reflected an uncompromising stance against the potential entry of forces from this group into near Israel’s borders.
In conjunction with these developments, Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to maintaining a military presence in a UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces since 1974. This buffer zone was established following Israel’s capture of the Golan Heights during the 1967 war, an action that has not received widespread international recognition. Netanyahu declared that Israeli forces would remain in this area indefinitely to safeguard Israeli communities and counter any threats.
The air strikes are part of a broader pattern of Israeli military actions in Syria that have intensified since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, with the IDF primarily targeting Iranian-linked entities. Following the recent political upheaval that led to the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, Israel escalated its military operations, further claiming that these strikes were necessary to prevent advanced military assets from reaching hostile actors.
In a separate but concurrent development, participants in a national dialogue conference held in Syria rejected Netanyahu’s comments as “provocative.” They issued a statement urging the international community to exert pressure on Israel to cease its aggressive actions and violations of Syrian sovereignty, condemning the Israeli incursions into their territory as unacceptable.
