IDF says it seized, destroyed weapons in ‘targeted raids’ in southern Syria
Army confirms reports of action beyond buffer zone, issues footage from operations
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israeli military said Saturday it had carried out several “targeted raids” in southern Syria over the past week while issuing footage from its operations.
The Israel Defense Forces said troops captured and destroyed numerous weapons during the missions.
The weapons included rifles, ammunition, rockets, and other military gear.
Earlier this week, Syrian media reported that Israeli forces were operating near the Tel al-Mal peak in the Daraa Governorate, where a military post belonging to the former Syrian regime once stood. The hill is located some 13 kilometers (over 8 miles) from Israel’s border, well outside a buffer zone between the countries that Israel captured following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The IDF has described its presence in southern Syria’s buffer zone as a temporary and defensive measure, though Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that troops will remain deployed to nine army posts in the area “indefinitely.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that southern Syria must be completely demilitarized, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of the forces of the new Syrian Islamist-led government near its territory.
IDF troops operate in southern Syria, in a video issued by the military on March 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Earlier this week, the IDF carried out an airstrike in northwestern Syria, saying that the attack targeted a military facility belonging to the former Syrian regime in the town of Qardaha, east of Latakia, where weapons were being stored.
Late last month, the IDF said it carried out airstrikes targeting military sites containing weapons in southern Syria.
Even before Assad’s fall, during Syria’s civil war, Israel carried out hundreds of strikes in the neighboring country, mainly on government forces and Iranian-linked targets.
The same day Assad was ousted, Israel announced that its troops were entering a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights.
Participants in Syria’s national dialogue conference last week affirmed their rejection of “provocative” statements by Netanyahu and urged the international community to pressure Israel to stop any “aggression and violations,” condemning “the Israeli incursion into Syrian territory.”
Israeli leaders have also publicly warned Syria’s government not to harm the Druze in southwestern Syria and have regularly spoken with foreign leaders about the importance of protecting them, along with Syria’s Kurds.
Syrian security forces deployed heavily in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast on Saturday after a war monitor reported that government and allied forces killed more than 740 civilians from the religious minority in recent days.
Residents of the region continued to report killings of civilians after deadly clashes broke out on Thursday between Syria’s new authorities and gunmen loyal to toppled president Assad, himself an Alawite.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that “745 Alawite civilians were killed in the coastal regions of Syria and the Latakia mountains by security forces and allied groups.”
SOHR, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria and is of unclear funding, has been accused in the past of inflating Assad regime losses.
The Britain-based Observatory said they were killed in “executions” carried out by security personnel or pro-government fighters, accompanied by the “looting of homes and properties.”
