Syrian Druze protest Israeli incursions into Syrian territory in the southern province of Suwayda, February 25, 2025 (AP)
Two days after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded “demilitarization” of southern Syria, the Israelis have carried out airstrikes across the area and near Damascus.
Syrian media said the warplanes struck military sites late Tuesday in Kiswah, south of Damascus, and in Daraa Province.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz pointed to ongoing attacks, saying Israel “will not allow southern Syria to become southern Lebanon”.
Equating the new Syrian Government with the Assad regime which was overthrown in December, he said, “Any attempt by the Syrian regime forces and the country’s terrorist organisations to establish themselves in the security zone in southern Syria will be met with fire.”
Throughout the 13-year, 8-month uprising against the Assad regime, Israel carried out strikes on the regime and its enablers, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
As soon as the opposition toppled Assad on December 8, Israeli forces entered the UN buffer zone between Israel and Syria and have refused to leave despite protests by the new government, the UN, and the international community.
Hours before the airstrikes on Tuesday, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa called on the Israelis to withdraw their forces. The statement was issued at the end of a National Dialogue Conference, with hundreds of Syrian officials, activists, and leaders planning the post-Assad transition.
“About 125 civilians have been executed by government security forces in north-west Syria during a rolling two-day battle with loyalists to the ousted Assad regime, a Syrian war monitor reported on Friday. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), a human rights monitor considered independent and credible, documented “large-scale field executions of men and young adults, without any clear distinction between civilians and combatants”, in north-west Syria”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/07/death-toll-rises-syrian-security-forces-struggle-quell-assad-loyalist-attacks
[Editor’s Note: Syria’s security forces are dealing with attacks by pro-Assad groups in the west of the country. There have been civilian casualties, but any claims from the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” must be treated with caution.]
More than 300 Alawite civilians killed by Syria security forces: https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250308-more-than-300-alawite-civilians-killed-syria-security-forces-allies-since-thursday-monitor-says