Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed responsibility for a series of strikes that hit southern Syrian over the night of March 10 and 11.
The strikes, numbered over 40, targeted several bases of the former Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the governorates of al-Qunitra, Daraa and Rif Dimashq, according to Syrian media. There were no reports of casualties.
In a statement, the IDF said that the strikes hit “radar systems and detection equipment used to build an aerial intelligence picture,” along with “headquarters and military sites containing weapons and military equipment belonging to the Syrian regime in southern Syria.”
The wording indicates that the targets, although deployed at SAA bases, in fact belong to the forces of the current Syrian interim government.
Additional strikes were reported in southern Syria after the IDF’s announcement, with the main target being Khalkhalah Air Base in the governorate of al-Suwayda.
Israeli troops invaded the buffer zone adjacent to the occupied Golan Heights in the southern Syrian governorate of al-Qunitra just hours after the fall of the Assad regime on December 8. The IDF also launched hundreds of strikes destroying much of the country’s military capabilities.
Initially, the IDF described its presence in southern Syria’s buffer zone as a temporary and defensive measure. However, Defense Minister Israel Katz later said that troops will remain deployed to nine army posts in the area “indefinitely.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that southern Syria must be completely demilitarized, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of the forces of the new Syrian Islamists government near its territory. The primer also warned the government against attacking the Druze, vowing to defend the minority.
The latest wave of strikes on Syria, which was the most extensive since December, came amid an escalation on the country’s coast, where more than 1,000 civilians from the Alawite minority -which former President Bashar al-Assad belongs to- have been killed so far by government forces. Israel slammed the massacres, but stopped short of intervening despite calls by some Alawite activists.
The strikes also came right after the Syrian government announced a breakthrough agreement to merge the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the United States, into state institutions, including the military.
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