The Israel Defense Forces early on Tuesday morning struck the Tadmur base and the nearby T-4 airbase in central Syria.
The target of the strikes were “military capabilities that remained” following the overthrow of the Assad regime by Al-Qaeda-linked forces on Dec. 8, the army said.
T-4 is Syria’s largest airbase and has been linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Tadmur base is located in the Palmyra military airport.
Also on Tuesday morning, Israeli forces returned fire after being attacked by terrorists in southern Syria. The Israeli Air Force also carried out a strike against the attacking forces.
The Israeli strikes on Tadmur and T-4 were the second in the span of a week.
Last Tuesday, the IDF struck artillery positions in the Khan Arnabah area in southern Syria, close to the border with Israel. A day earlier, the IDF also targeted command centers containing weapons and military vehicles in southern Syria. The sites belonged to the “old Syrian regime” and were being refurbished for use, according to the military.
On March 13, the Israeli Air Force carried out a strike on the headquarters of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in Damascus.
Last month, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called for more “realistic expectations” regarding the new Syrian government, which he described as “a terrorist group from Idlib.”
Speaking at a press conference with E.U. officials in Brussels, Sa’ar said, “I hear talk of regime transition in Syria. This is ridiculous.”
The government of Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda terrorist known also as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, “is a jihadist Islamist terror group from Idlib, that took Damascus by force,” he said.
After the fall of Assad in December, Israel seized the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in the Syrian Golan Heights set up under a 1974 ceasefire agreement. Syria’s new authorities and U.N. officials have called for Israel to withdraw.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Jerusalem would not allow al-Sharaa’s army or other insurgent groups to “enter the area south of Damascus.
“Take note: We will not allow HTS forces or the new Syrian army to enter the area south of Damascus,” said Netanyahu, referring to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group headed by al-Sharaa.
IDF paratroopers, Yahalom Unit conduct defensive operations
The IDF Paratroopers Brigade, operating under the 210th Division, carried out defensive operations in Syria last week to eliminate threats, the IDF said on Tuesday.
In recent weeks, troops from the Paratroopers Brigade, alongside Yahalom Unit soldiers, conducted missions at multiple locations based on intelligence reports. During these operations, they uncovered and confiscated a cache of weapons, including explosives, ammunition, mortar shells, military vests, and other combat gear. The confiscated materials were dismantled.
The 210th Division continues to operate in the region to safeguard Israeli citizens, particularly in the Golan Heights.