DAMASCUS, Syria: Israeli forces conducted an overnight airborne raid on a site near the Syrian capital Damascus after bombing it several times, Syrian state media reported on Thursday.
Israel has not confirmed the raid, but Defence Minister Israel Katz said its forces operate “in all combat zones” to ensure the country’s security.
If verified, it would be the deepest such operation Israel has carried out inside Syria since an alliance led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took power in Damascus in December.
Israeli jets had struck the site near Kisweh, outside Damascus, on Tuesday, killing six Syrian soldiers according to the foreign ministry, and bombed it again on Wednesday night according to state television.
Quoting a government source, state news agency SANA said Syrian soldiers had found “surveillance and eavesdropping devices” in the area before it was hit by Israeli strikes on Tuesday.
Following the second attack on Wednesday, SANA said Israeli troops were flown into the area to carry out a raid, “the details of which are not yet known, amid continued intensive reconnaissance flights”.
On Thursday, in a post on X, Israeli Defence Minister Katz said: “Our forces are operating in all combat zones day and night for the security of Israel”. He did not elaborate.
Carmit Valensi, senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, cited by AFP, said that “from what we understand, Syrian forces uncovered monitoring and intelligence devices, apparently Israeli.”
“It can be assessed that the IDF (Israeli army) forces were essentially attempting to dismantle the intelligence devices that had been installed, in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of various Syrian forces — most likely out of the understanding that they had been exposed,” Valensi added.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since Assad’s ouster, and occupied much of a UN-patrolled demilitarised zone on the Syrian side of the armistice line between the two countries.
It has also opened talks with the interim authorities in Damascus.
