Israel reportedly claimed that the strike aimed to convey a “serious message” to Syria’s leadership that it expects Damascus to “act to prevent harm to the Druze.”
Israel said on Wednesday that it carried out a “warning operation” in Syria, in the latest violation of the Arab country’s sovereignty, the Anadolu news agency reported.
A joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed that the strike aimed “to prevent harm to the Druze.”
The statement, according to Anadolu, said the strike targeted an armed group allegedly preparing to attack a Druze community in Sahnaya town near Damascus.
Syria condemns the latest Israeli strike in Sahnaya town near Damascus, denouncing it as a breach of the country’s sovereignty
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Israel claimed that the strike aimed to convey a “serious message” to Syria’s leadership that it expects Damascus to “act to prevent harm to the Druze,” the report added.
Israel’s Druze population, estimated at 150,000, mostly holds Israeli citizenship and serves in the military, unlike the 23,000 Druze in Syria’s Golan Heights, who largely reject Israeli citizenship and identify themselves as Syrian nationals, according to the report.
11 Killed in Attacks
On Wednesday, the Syrian Health Ministry said 11 civilians and security personnel were killed in attacks by “outlaw groups” in Ashrafieh Sahnaya town in southern Syria.
Israel captured most of the Golan Heights in 1967, annexing it in 1981, a move recognized only by the US.
Willing to Normalize: Why Syria’s Betrayal of Palestine Doesn’t Even Make Strategic Sense
Since December 2024, Israel has occupied Syria’s demilitarized buffer zone following the ouster of the Bashar al-Assad regime, ending the 1974 disengagement agreement without a withdrawal timeline, the report noted.
It added that Syria’s new administration, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has condemned Israel’s actions as violations of the country’s sovereignty and called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Assad, who ruled Syria for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in December, ending the Baath Party’s decades-long rule that began in 1963.
(Anadolu, PC)
The cancer of the Middle-East has to be eradicated and soon. The pigs don’t care about Druze or anybody else. This strike was just meant to pressure the new Syrian government to kowtow before the zios. I’m not expecting much from this Al-Sharaa for he is hardly different from the other Arab puppet-rulers. But I hope the zionist infringements on Syria prompt the locals to grab their arms and fend off the genocidal parasites.
The cancer of the Middle-East has to be eradicated and soon.The pigs don’t care about Druze or anybody else. This strike was just meant to pressure the new Syrian government to kowtow before the zios. I’m not expecting much from this Al-Sharaa for he is hardly different from the other Arab puppet-rulers. But I hope the zionist infringements on Syria prompt the locals to grab their arms and fend off the genocidal parasites.
Israel’s government does not learn from history, that is clear. Hizbullah is a legitimate response to the IDF’s occupation in Southern Lebanon; now Israel is sturring up for itself yet another version of Hizbullah, in Southern Syria. It’s all very similar to the way the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem alienated neighbours persistently, until it collapsed.