Israeli troops near Damascus, say Syrian security, as strikes hit military sites

An Israeli military incursion into Syria has reached about 25km (16 miles) southwest of Damascus, Syrian security sources said on Tuesday, after Israel seized a buffer zone in southern Syria and launched air strikes on Syrian army and airbases overnight. Israel’s military operation into Syria comes two days after the lightning overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad by a rebel alliance left Syrians, regional countries and world powers nervous about what comes next. A Syrian security source said Israeli troops reached Qatana, which is 10km into Syrian territory east of a demilitarised zone separating Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria. An Israeli military spokesperson denied that Israeli forces had penetrated into Syrian territory beyond the Golan Heights buffer zone. Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said Israeli forces had remained in the demilitarised zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, apart from “a few additional points” in the vicinity of the buffer zone. Israel has said it will not become involved in conflict in Syria and that its seizure of the buffer zone was a defensive move. Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have condemned the incursion. Saudi Arabia said the move would “ruin Syria’s chances of restoring security”. Regional security sources and officers within the now fallen Syrian army said heavy Israeli air strikes continued against military installations and airbases across Syria overnight, destroying dozens of helicopters and jets, as well as Republican Guard assets in and around Damascus. Dozens of raids had left nothing of the Syrian army’s assets, they said. Meanwhile, a monitor of Syria’s war said on Tuesday it had recorded more than 300 Israeli strikes since rebels toppled Assad over the weekend. “The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has been able to document around 310 strikes” carried out by “Israeli warplanes” since the announcement of the fall of Assad on Sunday morning, the monitor said, while loud explosions were heard in the capital Damascus early Tuesday. Israel said its air strikes would carry on for days but told the UN Security Council that it was not intervening in Syria’s conflict. It said it had taken “limited and temporary measures” solely to protect its security. “We are taking all the actions necessary to try to ensure our security with regard to the new situation in Syria,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters in a late-night press conference at his office on Monday, without going into detail. Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would “destroy heavy strategic weapons throughout Syria, including surface-to-air missiles, air defence systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range rockets, and coastal missiles”. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had no interest in interfering in internal Syrian affairs and was concerned only with defending its citizens. “That’s why we attack strategic weapons systems like, for example, remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall into the hands of extremists,” Saar told reporters in Jerusalem. Still reeling from the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ attack in October 2023, Israel is also looking to head off any future threat from its neighbour. The rebels are led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, an Islamist group that was originally affiliated with al-Qaeda. The head of HTS, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is trying to change the image of his group from a radical one to a unified opposition capable of inclusive governance in Syria. In an interview with CNN last week, he said “no one has the right to erase another group,” responding to a question about previous attacks on minority groups. HTS is designated a terrorist organisation by the US and many other countries. Israeli forces had already cleared landmines and established new barriers on the frontier between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and a demilitarised strip bordering Syria in October. Early on Sunday, the military said it had sent ground forces into the demilitarised zone, a 400-sq-km (155-sq-mile) buffer created by a 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement and overseen by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). The military on Monday published photos of Israeli commandos in the Syrian Mount Hermon area. Saar said the troop presence was strictly limited. “It’s basically near our borders, sometimes a few hundred metres, sometimes one mile or two miles,” he said. “It is a very limited and temporary step we took for security reasons.” Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg

Israeli troops near Damascus, say Syrian security, as strikes hit military sites

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A Syria war monitor has recorded more than 300 Israeli strikes since the fall of Bashar al-Assad

A Syria war monitor has recorded more than 300 Israeli strikes since the fall of Bashar al-Assad