Israeli fighter jets hit southern Syrian “military targets,” including “command centers and multiple sites containing weapons,” over the course of several hours, the Israel Defense Forces stated around midnight on Wednesday morning.
“The presence of military forces and assets in the southern part of Syria poses a threat to Israeli civilians,” the IDF said. It added that it “will continue to operate in order to remove any threat to Israelis.”
Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, said “we will not allow southern Syria to become Southern Lebanon.”
“Any attempt by the Syrian regime forces and the country’s terrorist organizations to establish themselves in the security zone in southern Syria will be met with fire,” he added.
Reuters reported that Israel struck the town of Kisweh, located some 12 miles south of Damascus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that southern Syria must be fully demilitarized and that the Jewish state will not tolerate “any threat” to the Druze population there.
The Israeli premier warned the Sunni jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that Israel won’t allow its forces “or the new Syrian army to enter the territory south of Damascus.”
