Israel strikes targets in Syria after reported ‘projectile’ attack

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Syria on Wednesday condemned the latest Israeli strikes that hit targets in the country’s south and southwest. Israel said the bombardment was in response to rockets fired into open areas of the Israel-controlled Golan Heights, marking the first such attack from Syrian territory since the recent fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

In a statement, the Syrian foreign ministry “strongly condemned the Israeli shelling that targeted villages and towns in [the southwestern] Daraa province, which resulted in significant human and material losses.”

“This escalation constitutes a blatant violation of Syrian sovereignty and further increases tensions in the region at a time when de-escalation and peaceful solutions are most needed,” the ministry added.

The ministry also noted that the reports of rockets being fired from Syria “toward the Israeli side have not been verified,” and accused “several parties” of “seeking to destabilize the region to serve their own interests.”

In a tacit reference to Israel, the ministry underlined, "We affirm that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region,” stressing that its top priority in southern Syria is “to establish state authority and end the presence of weapons outside official institutions.”

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Wednesday that “powerful explosions shook the [Syrian] city of Quneitra and the Daraa countryside” in south and southwest Syria, as a result of Israeli airstrikes.

The UK-based war monitor, which relies on a network of sources within Syria, elaborated that the Israeli military had struck two targets in two regions: the Syrian Army’s Regiment 175 in northern Daraa, as well as the Tel al-Sha’ar area near Quneitra.

SOHR added that “no confirmed reports of casualties have been received,” adding that the Israeli strikes came after “a projectile” was “launched toward the occupied Golan Heights from western Daraa countryside.”

Israel’s position

Hours earlier, the Israeli military said in a statement on X that “two projectiles were identified crossing from Syria” fell in open areas in the Golan Heights. In a follow-up statement, it added that Israeli “artillery struck in southern Syria” in response and that it had targeted weapons belonging to Syrian authorities.

Defense minister Israel Katz held Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa “directly responsible for every threat and firing at the State of Israel.” In his statement on X, he warned that “the full response will come as soon as possible.”

Seemingly hinting that Palestinian groups in Syria may have been behind the attack, Katz said, “We will not allow a return to the reality of October 7th,” referring to the large-scale incursion into southern Israel led by the Palestinian movement Hamas that day.

The October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, according to Israeli figures. In response, Israel launched a massive military offensive in Gaza that, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, has killed nearly 55,000 people - mostly Palestinian civilians - and wounded approximately 125,000 others.

Importantly, a claim of responsibility was circulated by some Arab media and social media from a little-known group named “Martyr Mohammed Deif Brigades.”

Deif was a founding member and long-time commander of Hamas's military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He was killed in an Israeli strike in July 2024.

Syria-Israel engagement

Following a swift offensive in early December, the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - then headed by Sharaa - spearheaded a coalition of opposition groups that toppled the regime of Syrian dictator Assad.

Since then, Israel has intensified efforts to destroy Damascus's military stockpiles. SOHR on Wednesday reported that since the beginning of 2025, Israel has carried out 57 attacks on Syrian territory, including 48 airstrikes and nine ground attacks, destroying some 86 sites.

Israeli forces have also entered a buffer zone east of the annexed Golan Heights, justifying this as a security precaution amid Syria’s ongoing political instability.

The latest escalation comes despite reports that Syria and Israel had in late May engaged in talks to ease tensions.

Speaking to the Jewish Journal - one of the largest Jewish news outlets in the United States founded in 1987 - Sharaa stated on Saturday that he is open to dialogue with Israel.

He even stated that Syria and Israel have common enemies and can play a major role in regional security, expressing a desire to return to the spirit of the Syria-Israel Disengagement Agreement as the foundation for mutual restraint and protection of civilians.

The Disengagement Agreement, brokered by the US in 1974, established a ceasefire and created a buffer zone monitored by the United Nations in the Golan Heights. The agreement aimed to reduce tensions by delineating separation lines between Syrian and Israeli forces without establishing formal peace.

Importantly, Sharaa’s outreach came shortly after US President Donald Trump in mid-May urged the Syrian interim president to normalize relations with Israel and expel Palestinian armed groups that are active in Syria.

In a statement post on X, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Trump urged Sharaa to “sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel.”

The Accords are a series of normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries - beginning with the UAE and Bahrain in 2020 - brokered by the US under Trump’s first term in office. The agreements established formal ties in areas like diplomacy, security and trade.

Trump’s remarks to Sharaa were made in a meeting between the two sides in Saudi Arabia, shortly after the US president had stated that he may ease US sanctions on Syria to allow Damascus a “fresh start.”

On Wednesday, US Congressman Joe Wilson stated that “in order for the new Syrian government to fulfill its commitments to President Trump, the [Syrian ministry of Defense] MOD must be able to operate in all of Syria.”

“Syrian officials have clearly stated that Syria will not pose a threat to Israel,” however, “restriction of access to security forces in certain areas will be exploited,” Wilson argued.