Israel says it is conducting strikes in southern Syria as tensions rise over the border zone

# Israel says it is conducting strikes in southern Syria as tensions rise over the border zone

Israel has said it is carrying out strikes in southern Syria after the new Syrian government called for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territory.

According to the supplied ABC News report, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the air force was “now attacking strongly” in southern Syria as part of a new policy aimed at “pacifying southern Syria.” He also warned that Israel would not allow the area to become “southern Lebanon,” a reference to a longer-running security dispute along another Israeli border.

The strikes came after Syrian state media reported aircraft attacks near Damascus. ABC said the Israeli confirmation followed that reporting, and that the wider dispute sits against the backdrop of Israeli forces occupying the demilitarized buffer zone on Syria’s border since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024.

The article also notes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that Israeli forces will stay in the buffer zone for some time. That matters because the military action is not being presented as a one-off event, but as part of a broader posture toward southern Syria. The new Syrian government has demanded the “immediate and unconditional withdrawal” of Israeli forces and described their presence as a violation of sovereignty.

The evidence packet does not include casualty figures from the strikes, so the story should not speculate about damage or deaths beyond what the report confirms. What can be stated confidently is that Israel acknowledged the operation and tied it to what Katz described as a security policy for southern Syria.

The geography is central to the story. The buffer zone separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syrian territory, and its status has become more sensitive since the fall of Assad’s government. ABC’s report says the new Syrian authorities see the Israeli presence as unlawful, while Israel frames the zone as a security necessity.

That creates a familiar pattern of escalation and counter-escalation: Syrian officials call for withdrawal, Israel says it will maintain a military posture, and strikes follow. The supplied source does not resolve the dispute, but it does show that both sides are using public statements to define the next phase of the conflict.

For now, the report supports a straightforward conclusion: Israel is carrying out strikes in southern Syria and defending them as part of a new security policy, while Damascus is pressing for withdrawal and sovereignty over the south.