IDF drone strike in south Syria targets operative ‘in final stages’ of planning attacks

The Israel Defense Forces said it carried out an airstrike in southwest Syria on Saturday afternoon, adding it targeted an operative “who advanced terror attacks in the final stages of preparation.”

The military indicated the man was targeting troops situated in southern Syria, and his activity “posed an immediate threat to our forces.”

Syrian media reported that the strike in Beit Jinn injured one person. It did not report any deaths. The town is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Israeli border.

The local Sham FM radio said the strike hit a car in the town.

Syrian condemned the latest Israeli attack on its territory as a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty and “blatant breach of international law.”

“This attack constitutes a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic and the integrity of its territory, and a blatant breach of international law, and comes in the context of repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory,” the foreign ministry says in a statement.

جيش الاحتلال يستهدف شخص بمسيرة على الطريق الواصل بين مزرعة بيت جن وبلدة بيت جن بريف دمشق pic.twitter.com/xXrOzmktnB

— Nour Abu Hasan _ نور الحسن (@Nuorgolan) August 22, 2026

The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024. Most of the Israeli-held posts are located within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the two countries. Israel said it did so to protect its security given the instability and uncertainty brought on by the rise of the new jihadist-led regime.

Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (nine miles) inside Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces.”

Saturday’s strike came days after the IDF struck a military airport in northwest Syria, where it claimed Turkey was planning to deploy forces.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Syria late Tuesday of being on the verge of violating a “status quo agreed with Israel in security matters” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the airbase, adding that such a deployment would threaten Israel’s security. Netanyahu later said Israel had also warned Turkey against any military activity in Syria ahead of the strike.

The strike led to criticism of Israel by the US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who suggested in an interview which aired Friday that the strike could have been an attempt by Israel to “bait” Turkey into conflict ahead of the elections.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Barrack’s remarks were “full of inaccuracies”and insisted Jerusalem had made diplomatic efforts to avoid the strike but went ahead when its overtures to Syria were ignored.