Drone strikes by Israel on a southern suburb of Damascus killed eight Syrian soldiers and injured others, Syrian officials and a war monitor reported Wednesday.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry said the attacks on Tuesday in the southern Damascus suburb of Kiswah resulted in the deaths of eight soldiers. The ministry condemned the strikes as “a serious violation of international law” and “a blatant breach of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The statement added that the attack is part of Israel’s ongoing aggressive policies aimed at destabilizing the region. The Israeli military has not yet commented on the incident.
Since the fall of Bashar Assad in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria, targeting military positions and seizing a U.N.-monitored buffer zone in the south.
The new authorities in Damascus have expressed no desire for conflict with Israel, but Israel remains wary of the government led by former Islamist insurgents.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Tuesday that Israeli forces would remain in “the security zone necessary to protect the Golan and Galilee settlements from threats emanating from Syria,” citing lessons learned from the Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the strikes targeted a strategic route connecting Damascus to the southern province of Sweida, where clashes last month between pro-government fighters and Syria’s Druze minority resulted in fatalities.
Israel intervened during those clashes in support of the Druze, who also form a significant community in Israel and are considered a loyal minority often serving in the Israeli military. Katz stated that Israel would continue to protect the Druze in Syria.
The Observatory said the area struck on Tuesday had previously hosted Assad’s military posts and noted that multiple strikes occurred, including one after paramedics arrived. In addition to the eight soldiers killed, three others were wounded.
Earlier on Tuesday, a drone strike near the southern town of Quneitra killed one person, according to Al-Ikhbariah and the Observatory. Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned this attack as well, saying it violates international law and threatens regional peace and stability.