Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Syria: Soldier wounded in Israeli strike near Damascus

Israel is believed to have struck hundreds of targets in Syria in recent years as part of an effort to prevent Iranian military entrenchment there.

Explosions in Damascus destroy an arms depot belonging to Iranian-backed groups, Aug. 13, 2023. Credit: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Explosions in Damascus destroy an arms depot belonging to Iranian-backed groups, Aug. 13, 2023. Credit: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Israel struck several targets in the Damascus area on Monday night, wounding a Syrian soldier and causing material damage, according to official Syrian media.

According to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, the strikes came from the direction of the Golan Heights.

Israel has allegedly struck hundreds of targets in Syria in recent years as part of an effort to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in the country. However, it rarely acknowledges these incidents.

On Aug. 7, four Syrian soldiers were reportedly killed and four others wounded in an Israeli missile strike near Damascus.

A week later, unexplained “violent explosions” rocked the Syrian capital, with the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting that the blasts had destroyed an arms depot belonging to Iranian-backed groups.

The group did not directly attribute blame to Israel.

Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights Observation Point.

“It is pleasant to be here in the sunshine and see the wonderful development of the Golan Heights, which we all have worked on, to see our soldiers... and really to know that we are walking on land that will be under Israeli sovereignty forever,” said Netanyahu.

“This was not self-evident a few decades ago when I served here. Today it is understood by everyone—and this is important,” he added.

“This political environment could discourage congressional committee staff and federal agency personnel from pursuing investigations or enforcement actions involving antisemitism,” Karen Paikin Barall of the Brandeis Center told JNS.
“They get social credit within their political bases in terms of talking about settler violence and and taking up the side of the Palestinians on issues between them and Israel,” Rafael Mangual of the Manhattan Institute told JNS.
The U.S. envoy also said antisemitism “didn’t exist” during his upbringing and warned of an unintended clash between Israel and Turkey.
“There is not, and there will not be, a Palestinian state,” the Israeli prime minister pledged. He also called for the corruption trial against him to be dropped.