Jerusalem: Israel’s military has reported carrying out raids in Syria over the past week, during which it seized a range of weapons, including missiles, rifles, and ammunition, from the Syrian army.
In a statement on Saturday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that operations were ongoing and that Israeli troops had been deployed “at strategic points in Syria.” The military stated that these raids were part of efforts to “eliminate any threat and strengthen the defense of the State of Israel.”
The operations, which involved paratroopers and armored forces, focused on dismantling weapons and military equipment across southern Syria. According to the IDF, numerous weapons were captured and destroyed during these “targeted raids.”
Israel maintains that its presence in the buffer zone in southern Syria is a temporary defensive measure, although Defense Minister Israel Katz indicated that the military will remain deployed at nine army posts in the area “indefinitely.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized last month that southern Syria must be fully demilitarized, warning that Israel would not tolerate the presence of Syrian Islamist-led forces near its territory.
Israel took control of parts of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed the territory in 1981, a move not recognized internationally. Following the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 by a coalition led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and other militias, Israel deployed forces to the UN-monitored buffer zone in the Golan Heights, a region that was set up in 1974.
Earlier this week, Israeli airstrikes targeted a military facility in Qardaha, Syria, where weapons were reportedly being stored. Last month, Israeli forces also targeted weapons storage sites in southern Syria. Even before Assad’s removal, Israel had carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, focusing on government and Iranian-linked targets.
The international community, including participants in Syria’s national dialogue conference, has condemned Israel’s actions, urging for an end to its “aggression and violations” in Syrian territory. Syria’s new authorities and their allies have also been under pressure, with reports of civilian casualties mounting, especially from the Alawite minority in Syria’s coastal region, where clashes between government forces and loyalists to the former president erupted.