Syria and Israel: Escalation of Air Attacks Reported in Southern Deraa Province
The state-controlled Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the strikes on Monday evening affected two communities in northern Deraa, which lies 103km south of the capital, Damascus.
“Occupying forces of Israel made several assaults around the areas of Jbab and Izraa in northern Deraa,” SANA detailed.
Information from the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights indicates that Israeli fighter jets executed 17 strikes on two military bases in these towns: the now-defunct regime’s 89th Artillery Regiment and the 12th Brigade.
No fatalities have been confirmed as of now, the observatory noted.
Channel 14, an Israeli news outlet, stated the strikes were aimed at Bahr al-Assad’s army outposts, weapon repositories, radar systems, tanks, and artillery that insurgent factions in Syria were planning to overpower.
Following the downfall of President al-Assad in December, Israel has initiated numerous air raids on Syrian territories.
As per the Syrian Observatory, over 500 air raids by Israel have targeted sites within Syria from December 8 to December 31, 2024, with 21 documented instances of this year’s operations.
Most of Israel’s sorties have been directed at facilities and weaponry formerly controlled by the deposed regime’s forces, in what Israel deems as a strategy to prevent military equipment from winding up with groups inimical to them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated that the complete demilitarization of southern Syria is imperative. He also underlined that his administration would not tolerate the presence of forces from the nascent Damascus government, led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in proximity to Israeli borders.
After the removal of al-Assad, Israeli forces have ventured and established control over regions within the UN monitored buffer zone that has historically separated Israel and Syria in the occupied Golan Heights since 1974.
