Israeli Air Force jets on Thursday struck a military headquarters of the former Assad regime in Sasa, southwest of Damascus, near the Golan Heights, according to unconfirmed reports.
Saudi news outlet Al Arabiya claimed that the IAF strikes targeted the headquarters of the Syrian Army’s 90th Brigade, which had often been used by Iran and its terrorist proxies, including Lebanese Hezbollah.
Al Arabiya noted that the base of the 90th Brigade, which it described as one of the most important armored brigades of the former Syrian Arab Armed Forces, housed electronic warfare and jamming systems, anti-aircraft systems, Iranian “Shahab” missiles and rocket launchers.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based war monitor that was opposed to the Assad regime, reported that “violent explosions” were heard in a “military area” southwest of the Syrian capital.
Also on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar visited soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces’ 202nd Paratroopers Battalion serving on the border with Syria, according to reports in Israeli media.
“The operations on the border are very important to prevent a threat to the communities [in the Israeli Golan Heights] and the establishment of hostile elements near the border. The reality is very dynamic, and we do not yet know how and when it will stabilize,” Sa’ar said during the visit.
Sa’ar also visited a base of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force, which monitors the implementation of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War with Syria.
“I heard praise there for the cooperation with Israel in general and the IDF in particular. I also learned about their activities since the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement until today,” the diplomat said.
Writing on X following the tour, Sa’ar stated, “Israel is closely monitoring the situation in Syria and will not jeopardize its own security. We will not allow another October 7th on any front.”
Since the fall of the Iranian-backed Assad regime on Dec. 8, the IDF has taken up positions inside and beyond the Golan Heights buffer zone, including on the strategic Syrian side of Mount Hermon. The Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of strikes on Assad military assets to prevent them from possibly falling into the hands of hostile forces.
