IDF strikes Syrian artillery systems near border; Damascus condemns ‘Israeli aggression’

Israel carried out several drone strikes on military infrastructure near the southern Syrian town of Khan Arnabeh on Tuesday, less than a day after airstrikes in the Daraa Governorate were said to have killed at least three people and injured more than a dozen others.

The strikes were the latest in a string of attacks on military infrastructure belonging to the ousted Assad regime, which fell to Islamist insurgents in December.

The IDF said that it had struck artillery systems in Khan Arnabeh, located just outside the buffer zone along the Israel-Syria border.

It said that the systems had posed a threat to Israel, and warned that it “will not allow the existence of a military threat in southern Syria and will act against it.”

The previous evening, the IDF had confirmed that it was carrying out a series of strikes on military targets in the Daraa area, targeting headquarters and other facilities used to store weapons and equipment belonging to the former Syrian regime. It said that it had identified attempts by unspecified groups to use those weapons.

While there was no confirmation from the IDF as to what groups had been attempting to access the weapons, Israel sees the Syrian branches of Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad as major threats in the wake of the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

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הימצאות אמצעי לחימה בדרום סוריה מהווה איום על מדינת ישראל. צה"ל לא יאפשר קיום של איום צבאי בדרום סוריה ויפעל כנגדו pic.twitter.com/I6frzSeqnL

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— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 18, 2025

The Syrian civil defense group, known as the White Helmets, said that the strikes had killed at least three people and injured 19 others.

In comments on Tuesday afternoon, the Syrian foreign ministry denounced “in the strongest terms,” the airstrikes in Daraa.

“This aggression is part of an Israeli campaign against the Syrian people and the stability of the country,” the foreign ministry charged.

“The ongoing Israeli aggression on Syria is not only a violation of international law but is also a direct threat to regional and international security,” it added, calling on the United Nations Security Council “and all responsible international bodies” to “put an end to these illegal actions and implement the 1974 agreement.”

The 1974 Disengagement Agreement, signed at the end of the Yom Kippur War saw the establishment of the 235-square-kilometer demilitarized buffer zone between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights.

The buffer zone was manned for decades by UN peacekeepers, but with the fall of Assad, Israel said that it considered the agreement void until order was restored in Syria and deployed troops to the buffer zone.

IDF troops operate in southern Syria, in a handout photo issued on March 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF describes its presence in the buffer zone as a temporary and defensive measure, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that troops would remain there for “an unlimited period of time.”

He said that Israel would not allow paramilitary groups or forces from the new Syrian army to move south of Damascus, and called for the “full demilitarization” of the Quneitra, Daraa and Suweyda provinces in southern Syria.

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.