The Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes as well as a landing operation in Syria Wednesday night, coinciding with ongoing negotiations for a security deal between Tel Aviv and Damascus.
“The attack in Damascus last night proves the proper balance of power between us and Syria,” the Israel News telegram channel reported on Thursday. “Every time Israel sees that there is a weapon or some kind of capability in Syria that it can threaten – we act immediately. It should be noted that when there are agreements, Israel will not be able to do this. It is a weak step in the Middle East to seek an agreement, because an agreement is protection, until it strengthens. Israel is the strong side here, and therefore freedom of action should be preserved, and it is advisable that Israel maintain freedom of action,” it added.
“The attack in Damascus is just an example of the need to carry out such attacks from time to time.” The strikes reportedly targeted an air defense base belonging to Syria’s former military.
“About 10 kilometers from the opening of the Damascus International Fair attended by President Sharaa, three Israeli warplanes took turns bombing Rif-Dimashq (Damascus countryside),” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.
Following the attack on Wednesday, Israeli ground forces were flown into the area via helicopter to carry out a raid on the site. The details of the landing operation are “not yet known,” a government source told Syrian state media outlet SANA.
The Israeli attack on Tuesday prevented access to the area until the following day, the source said, adding that Syrian troops later destroyed the spy devices with “appropriate weapons.”
Israel’s Channel 14 correspondent Hillel Biton Rosen reported that “Israeli strikes were carried out in Syria following the discovery of intelligence devices planted in the country.”
Direct negotiations between Syrian and Israeli officials have been taking place in recent months, focusing on the establishment of a security arrangement. Israel expanded its occupation of Mount Hermon following the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government last year, pushing past the demilitarized zone and declaring the 1974 Disengagement Agreement null.
Israeli forces have since established a widespread occupation across southern Syria and have continued to expand it, practically encircling the Syrian capital. Hundreds of Israeli airstrikes have also targeted former Syrian army sites.
Last month, Israel intervened in violent clashes between Syrian government-linked forces and Druze armed factions in the southern Suwayda governorate, carrying out heavy strikes on Damascus’s troops and sites in the country’s capital.
Israel’s Channel 12 revealed on August 25 that “Israel and Syria are expected to sign a security agreement aimed at stabilizing the situation in Syria and preventing threats to Israel.”
The deal, set to be signed in September, is said to include a clause on preventing the new Syrian army from building and strengthening its force, as well as a demilitarization of the Golan Heights. It also reportedly includes Syrian–Israeli cooperation against Iran and Hezbollah.
Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda chief, will attend the UN General Assembly meeting in New York next month.
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