Israel Increases Pressure On Syria

Israel has begun to increase its military pressure on Syria, all the while expanding its military operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. On October 24, a series of Israeli strikes targeted the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the central governorate of Homs. In Damascus, two security buildings were reportedly hit in the neighborhood of Kafar Sousah. Meanwhile in Homs, the strikes targeted a military checkpoint in the town of al-Qusayr and a nearby bridge in the southwestern countryside. A soldier was killed in the strikes. The very next day, October 25, Israeli strikes hit the Syrian-run Jusiyah crossing on the border with Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said after the strikes that Hezbollah’s Unit 4400 was smuggling weapons through the crossing. On October 26, another escalation was reported with Israeli strikes targeting air defense sites in the southern Syrian governorate of al-Suwayda. The strikes coincided with an Israeli attack on Iran and were likely meant to facilitate the movement of Israeli warplanes. Israel hit Syria again on October 31, this time targeting al-Qusayr, an adjacent industrial zone and the nearby al-Daf brigade in Homs. The IDF said that the strikes targeted sites belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and the group’s so-called armament unit. Ten people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Syrian media reports. On November 3, Israel kicked tensions with Syria up a notch by revealing that its commandos captured a Syrian man who was allegedly carrying out surveillance operations on the border on behalf of Iran during a raid in southern Syria a few months earlier. The IDF said that the man worked on behalf of Iran, and was involved in collecting intelligence on the Israeli military’s operations along the Syrian border, “for future terror activity.” Another wave of Israeli strikes targeted Syria on November 4. The IDF said that it struck infrastructure and assets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence division in the town of Sayyidah Zaynab to the south of Damascus. On November 5, Israeli strikes hit al-Qusayr and its industrial zone in Homs again, with the IDF claiming that weapons depots of Hezbollah’s armament unit were destroyed. Syrian media reported that a man was killed in the strike. Israel claims that it stepped up strikes on Syria to cut the supply lines of Hezbollah. However, the scale and targets of the recent attacks clearly goes beyond this goal. Israel’s new foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar, who was appointed on November 5, made serious threats to Syria over its alliance with Hezbollah recently. The minister even regretted not overthrowing the government in Damascus earlier. This suggests that Israel may soon open a new front with Syria.