Israel launched a series of major airstrikes against Syria after announcing a new policy of “pacifying” the southern portion of the country.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said that it had struck several military targets in southern Syria, including sites containing weapons and command centers. The airstrikes targeted a town just south of Damascus and the province of Daraa, security sources told the Jerusalem Post.
“The presence of military forces and assets in the southern part of Syria pose a threat to the citizens of Israel. The IDF will continue to operate in order to remove any threat to the citizens of the State of Israel,” the IDF said in a statement.
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The U.K.-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that two soldiers and two civilians were killed in the strikes, a rarity among Israel’s strikes against Syria over the past few months.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the airstrikes were part of a new policy “pacifying” the south of the war-torn country, comparing it to Lebanon.
“The air force is attacking strongly in southern Syria as part of the new policy we have defined of pacifying southern Syria — and the message is clear: We will not allow southern Syria to become southern Lebanon,” Katz said.
“We will not endanger the security of our citizens,” he added. “Any attempt by Syrian regime forces and the country’s terrorist organizations to establish themselves in the security zone in southern Syria — will be met with fire.”
The airstrikes were met with an angry response from Syrians, many of whom took to the streets to protest and demand attacks against Israel in retaliation.
“Oh Julani, oh Habib — bomb, bomb Tel Aviv,” protesters chanted in Umayyad Square in Damascus, imploring Syrian President Abu Mohammad al Julani to act.
Julani’s government has faced criticism for its ineffectual response to Israel’s incursions, so far not having fired a shot against them. The new government is looking to deal with the crippling economic and social crises gripping the country, preferring to avoid the issue of Israel in the meantime.
In a Monday speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that southern Syria will be “demilitarized” and that Israeli troops would remain in the buffer zone established after the fall of former President Bashar Assad’s regime “for the foreseeable future.”
“We will not allow the presence of the HTS organization or the new Syrian Army in the area south of Damascus,” he said, referring to the al Qaeda offshoot rebel group that led the offensive that toppled Assad in December.
An Israeli official told the Times of Israel that any Syrian army forces that move south of Damascus will risk “facing an Israeli response by fire.”
The official then hinted at Israel’s plans in the area by voicing support for the Druze.
“We are not going to allow jihadists near our border, we are not going to allow threats to the Druze in Syria … and we will not allow another Oct. 7 to happen in the Golan,” the official said.
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The Druze are a syncretic, esoteric Islamic offshoot ethno-religion who have distinguished themselves over their close relations with Israel. Rumors swirled after Israel’s strikes that it could set up a Druze autonomous state in Syria’s south as a bulwark against Damascus.
Earlier this week, Druze militants proclaimed the formation of the Suwayda Military Council, a military group independent of the regime in Damascus. Though the move could be seen as a step toward independence, the council stressed their wish to be integrated into the Syrian state on a democratic, secular basis, while expressing support for the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces in the north, themselves under attack from Turkey and Turkish-backed forces.
