IDF says several gunmen ‘eliminated’ after firing on troops in southern Syria
Military says troops completed task of confiscating weapons, destroying terror infrastructure; Syrian local government says 9 civilians killed
The military said Thursday several gunmen opened fire on Israeli troops operating in the southern Syrian town of Tasil overnight, as they were working to “confiscate weapons and destroy terror infrastructure.”
The Israel Defense Forces said the troops of the 474th Golan Regional Brigade returned fire and “eliminated” several gunmen “on the ground and from the air.”
No soldiers were injured in the exchange, and the operation in the area was completed, the IDF added.
Tasil is located some 13 kilometers (8 miles) from Israel’s border, outside of a demilitarized buffer zone along the Israel-Syrian border which the Israeli military moved into last December following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime to Islamist-led rebels.
It marked only the second incident in which IDF troops operating in southern Syria have come under fire since deploying to the buffer zone.
The provincial government in southern Syria’s Daraa said nine civilians were killed and several were injured in an Israeli bombardment following an “Israeli incursion.”
It said in a statement posted to Telegram that the shelling near the Syrian city of Nawa came after “an Israeli incursion” in the area. It said that this was the deepest into Syria that Israeli forces have advanced thus far since the establishment of the buffer zone.
Nawa is located some 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) from Tasil, where troops came under fire.
The discrepancy in the location of the incident was not immediately clear.
Following the collapse of Assad’s regime, Israel vowed to destroy weapons in Syria it fears could fall into the hands of “hostile forces” that may seek to attack it.
Earlier on Wednesday, the IDF said it struck “remaining military capabilities” at the Hama military airport and T-4 airbase in Syria. Damascus denounced the strikes as a “blatant violation of international law and Syrian sovereignty.”
Following the operations on Wednesday and Thursday, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Syria’s new ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa he would “pay a heavy price” if he allowed forces hostile to Israel into Syria.
“Israel will not allow Syria to become a threat to its communities and security interests,” Katz said, speaking to Defense Ministry employees at a ceremony ahead of Passover, and adding that troops would continue to maintain a presence in the buffer zone and act against threats.
“The air force’s activities yesterday at the T-4 airbase, in Hama and the Damascus area, are a clear message and warning for the future — we won’t allow harm to the security of the State of Israel.”
Israeli leaders have consistently stated that they do not trust Sharaa, a former rebel fighter whose Islamist group began as al-Qaeda’s local branch, whom Katz has called an “extreme Islamic leader.”
The IDF has described its presence in the buffer zone as a temporary and defensive measure, though Katz has said that troops will remain deployed to nine army posts in the area “indefinitely.”
The Times of Israel Community.