The Israeli military said it had struck sites in southern Syria on Tuesday, just hours after the new Syrian leadership demanded that Israel withdraw from territory it has seized since the fall of the Assad regime.
The attacks were aimed at “military targets in southern Syria, including headquarters and sites containing weapons,” the Israeli military said in a statement. It added, “The presence of military assets and forces in the southern part of Syria constitutes a threat” to Israeli citizens.
Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, said in a statement late on Tuesday that the attacks were part of a “new policy” of ensuring a “demilitarized southern Syria.” He added that “any attempt” by either Syrian forces or militant groups to establish a presence in what Israel has deemed its “security zone” in the region “will be met with fire.”
That policy was announced by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday in a speech demanding “the complete demilitarization” of southern Syria. The speech and Israel’s actions drew the condemnation of Syria’s new government on Tuesday.
The country’s interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, presided over a national unity conference on Tuesday that was intended to build consensus around the nation’s political and economic future. It concluded with a statement decrying Israeli incursions in Syria and rejecting “the provocative statements of the Israeli prime minister.”
Syria’s new government said Israel was violating Syria’s sovereignty and a longstanding agreement, and called on the international community to pressure Israel “to stop the aggression.”
Israel has been striking in Syria since before the fall of the country’s longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad, saying it aimed to curb the flow of arms and money from Iran to the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Since the rebel alliance led by Mr. al-Shara ousted Mr. al-Assad, and Mr. al-Shara became Syria’s leader, Israel has seized territory near their shared border and has been attacking military assets.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group based in Britain, said on Tuesday that Israeli forces have struck in Syria 16 times this year. Most of the attacks were conducted by the air force and two were ground strikes, the observatory said.
While Israeli leaders have for months made it clear they intend for their troops to remain in the border regions within what is supposed to be a buffer zone overseen by international peacekeepers, their declarations about a demilitarized southern Syria represent an escalation that has heightened tensions within Syria.
Mr. Netanyahu in his speech singled out three southern provinces in Syria, saying Israel would not tolerate Syrian forces in Quneitra, Dara’a and Sweida. On Tuesday, Syria’s state news agency reported demonstrations in Sweida in response to those statements and Israeli actions. Syrian news media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported demonstrations against Israeli actions in the other two provinces on Monday and Tuesday.
Israel invaded border villages in Syria after the Assad regime was toppled in what it described as temporary measures to protect its own security. But the Israeli raids continued throughout January and into February, raising fears among Syrians that the incursions could become a prolonged military occupation.
Mr. al-Shara’s government is seeking to create a national army to absorb Syria’s many militias, but some are resistant to joining and control significant territory and resources like farmland and oil. The Israeli actions and statements have been viewed by some Syrians as an attempt to sow further divisions and prevent national unity.
The United Nations and some member states have said that Israel is violating a decades-long cease-fire between Syria and Israel by sending its troops within and beyond the buffer zone, which was established in a 1974 Security Council resolution in the wake of a war between the two nations.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military also said it had struck in Lebanon, attacking people it identified as militants who it said were operating in a Hezbollah weapons production and storage facility. Lebanon’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, said two people were killed and three were injured.
Israel has been fighting on multiple fronts since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack ignited a war in Gaza and prompted Hezbollah to fire rockets and drones into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel and Lebanon entered a cease-fire agreement in late November, but Israel has continued to attack what it says are Hezbollah targets and militants since then.
Israel and Gaza are near the end of the first phase of a cease-fire. As part of that deal, hostages taken by Hamas in the initial attack have been exchanged for Palestinians jailed in Israel. Late on Tuesday, Hamas said that mediators had reached an agreement on the release of Palestinian prisoners who were supposed to be freed on Saturday.
Israel had delayed the release abruptly after six Israeli hostages were freed, saying it would wait until Hamas committed to releasing them without “humiliating ceremonies.” Israeli news media reported shortly after midnight Tuesday local time that the release would take place within 24 hours, with Hamas at the same time transferring the bodies of four deceased hostages to Egypt.
Raja Abdulrahim and Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting.
