Israel launches new operations in Syria after strike kills soldiers

Local sources report an Israeli operation in Kiswa, where six soldiers were killed by Israeli drones strikes a day before.

Israeli forces have conducted a series of strikes on a former army barracks in Kiswa, southwest of the Syrian capital of Damascus, according to Syria’s state-run al-Ekhbariya TV.

Video verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency showed Israeli aircraft attacking sites in the village on Wednesday.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 items

end of list

Meanwhile, a Syrian military source told Al Jazeera that the Israeli army carried out a landing operation in the barracks with the use of four helicopters.

According to the source, the Israeli army brought in dozens of soldiers and an unspecified amount of search equipment as it spent more than two hours at the site.

No clashes took place between the Israeli forces involved in the landing and the Syrian army forces.

The operation came a day after an Israeli drone strike killed six soldiers near Kiswa, and as Syrian officials in the government of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa have increasingly accused Israel of seeking to expand its control in the region.

In a statement on Wednesday, Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the strike “a gross violation of international law and the United Nations Charter”.

It added that the attack represented “a clear breach of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic”.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes targeting military sites and assets across Syria since the fall of former leader Bashar al-Assad in December. It has also expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarised buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria.

On Monday, Syria’s Foreign Ministry said that Israel had sent 60 soldiers to take control of an area inside the Syrian border around Mount Hermon, near a strategic hilltop close to the border with Lebanon.

Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Asaad al-Shaibani decried the “military incursion” as part of an effort by Israel to advance its “expansionist and partition plans”.

The latest Israel operations follow deadly clashes in the Druze-majority Syrian province of Suwayda, where 1,400 people were killed in a week of sectarian violence in July.

Israel has since attacked Syrian troops and bombed the heart of the capital, Damascus, under the pretext of protecting the Druze people.

Read More

  • Related Posts

    Israel says Nickolay Mladenov to direct Trump’s proposed Gaza ‘peace board’

    Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu announcemed the Bulgarian diplomat as the ‘designated’ director-general for Trump’s ‘board of peace’. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that former United Nations Middle East envoy…

    Israel looking to reopen Rafah crossing after US pressure: Israeli media

    Israel currently occupies the Palestinian side of the crossing, choking Gaza of a vital humanitarian entry point. Israel is preparing to reopen the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and…

    You Missed

    Rabbi Eli Schlanger identified as one of the victims killed in the Bondi Beach shooting

    Rabbi Eli Schlanger identified as one of the victims killed in the Bondi Beach shooting

    Moment British tourist and her friends shelter from Bondi Beach massacre as she reveals how she escaped terror attack

    Moment British tourist and her friends shelter from Bondi Beach massacre as she reveals how she escaped terror attack

    Brown University gunman drove to Rhode Island with laser-reinforced firearm before wreaking chaos: Live updates

    Brown University gunman drove to Rhode Island with laser-reinforced firearm before wreaking chaos: Live updates

    He was a trusted elementary teacher who played Santa Claus but the ‘sick’ St Nick hid a ‘dark secret’

    He was a trusted elementary teacher who played Santa Claus but the ‘sick’ St Nick hid a ‘dark secret’

    Bondi live updates: Alleged terror attack gunman ‘had just lost his job’ before shooting left 16 dead

    Bondi live updates: Alleged terror attack gunman ‘had just lost his job’ before shooting left 16 dead

    Roommate of second Brown University shooting victim mourns ‘ball of joy’ neuroscience major killed in gunfire

    • By poster
    • February 16, 2026
    • 2 views
    Roommate of second Brown University shooting victim mourns ‘ball of joy’ neuroscience major killed in gunfire