Israel steps up airstrikes, sends troops deeper into Syria

Israel stepped up its attacks on military sites in Syria, hitting hundreds of targets early Tuesday and sending troops deeper into the country.

The offensive targeted warehouses and weapons depots in several parts of Syria including the capital Damascus, bringing total Israeli airstrikes in the past two days to at least 310, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Israel’s Army Radio, citing an unnamed defense official, described Tuesday’s attack as one of the biggest in the airforce’s history. Syria television also reported Israeli airstrikes on Damascus and its suburbs on two separate occasions.

Israel seized a buffer zone along its border with Syria, an area the army says is about 155 square miles in size, a day after rebel groups toppled Bashar Assad’s government on Sunday. Israel said it struck Syrian chemical weapons and missile-storage sites to make sure they don’t fall into the hands of extremists, who may use them to harm the country’s citizens.

Israel is wary of the opposition groups that brought down Assad’s government after a rapid territorial advance. The rebels are led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, an Islamist group originally affiliated with Al-Qaeda that’s designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and many other countries.

Nevertheless, leaders of the Group of Seven, a collective of nations that includes the U.S. and U.K., are willing to support a new Syrian government — if the transition process respects the rule of law as well as religious and ethnic minorities in the country.

The G-7 “is hopeful that all the opposition groups seeking a role in governing Syria will demonstrate their commitment to the rights of all Syrians,” according to a draft statement the group plans to issue later this week. The G-7 is also set to call for the safe return of the millions of Syrians who fled the country under Assad, including to European countries.

Israel’s seizure of the buffer zone and its sustained attacks have drawn the ire of Arab nations including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In a statement, the kingdom said Israel’s assault showed “determination to sabotage Syria‘s chances of restoring its security, stability and territorial integrity.”

Egypt also went as far as accusing Israel of seeking to “occupy more Syrian territory.”

The Syrian Observatory, which has been monitoring the war via a network of people on the ground, said Israeli tanks were seen in the southwestern suburbs of Damascus, a dozen miles away from the capital.

The Israel Defense Forces are deployed in the buffer zone as well as points close to the border with Syria, spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X. He said reports circulating in some media outlets claiming Israeli troops were “advancing or approaching Damascus are completely incorrect.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was formally in a state of war with Assad, whose government maintained relative calm on that border despite some violations in the past year. But the emergence of a new Islamist power base in its immediate vicinity adds an additional threat after more than a year fighting Iran-backed terrorist groups in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel took the Golan Heights from Syria by the end of the 1967 Six Day War and a few years later annexed it. U.N. troops were deployed in a buffer zone to maintain the ceasefire back then.

The head of HTS, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, is trying to change the image of his group from a radical one to a unified opposition capable of inclusive governance in Syria. In an interview with CNN last week, he said “no one has the right to erase another group,” responding to a question about previous attacks on minority groups.

In a statement over the weekend, the quasi-government of the opposition sought to reassure the international community that they would not use chemical weapons stored in Syria.

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“We have no intention or desire to use chemical weapons or any weapons of mass destruction under any circumstance,” the opposition said.

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With assistance from Dan Williams and Alberto Nardelli.