Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
| Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Syrian civil war, the Middle Eastern crisis, the spillover of the Gaza war in Syria and the Arab–Israeli conflict | ||||||||||
Top: Invading Israeli troops on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, December 2024
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| Belligerents | ||||||||||
| Israel |
Syria Syrian protesters | Assad loyalists | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||||
|
Benjamin Netanyahu Israel Katz Ori Gordin | Rabie Banat | |||||||||
| Units involved | ||||||||||
| Strength | ||||||||||
| 2 brigades (6,000 – 10,000 troops) | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
|
1 soldier killed Multiple wounded 1+ vehicles damaged (per Syrian Popular Resistance) |
Per SNHR:
Material losses: Multiple military sites destroyed as well as ground, air and naval assets. | Unknown | ||||||||
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On 8 December 2024, Israel invaded the buffer zone in southwestern Syria adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and carried out an aerial campaign targeting the Syrian Army's military capabilities, following the fall of the Assad regime.
Israel took advantage of the power vacuum created by the fall of Assad to increase the amount of territory it controlled by several hundred square miles. Israel declared the 1974 Disengagement agreement with Syria to be void. Israel initially said this new invasion would be "temporary", but later said it would hold onto the territory for an "unlimited time". Israel also launched extensive aerial and naval strikes on Syrian military targets across the country, under an operation codenamed Operation Arrow of Bashan (Hebrew: מבצע חץ הבשן, romanized: Mivtza Ḥetz HaBashan). Israel's campaign destroyed Syria's military capabilities, including its navy, as well as chemical weapons stockpiles.
Israel's campaign in Syria was internationally condemned and was accused of violating international law by Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa criticized Israel's actions but also stated that his country was not in a position to be drawn into a new conflict.
On 25 February 2025, Israel escalated its invasion of southern Syria while conducting a wave of airstrikes there and in Damascus, one day after demanding the Syrian caretaker government demilitarize southern Syria.