DAMASCUS: Israel stepped up airstrikes on Syria overnight, declaring the attacks a warning to the new religious rulers in Damascus as it accused their ally Turkiye on Thursday of trying to turn the country into a Turkish protectorate.

The strikes, targeting air bases, a site near Damascus and the southwest, put renewed focus on Israeli concerns about the religious fighters who deposed Bashar al-Assad in December, with Israeli officials viewing them as a rising threat at their border.

Also suspicious of Ankara’s sway over Damascus, Israel has been working to advance its goals in Syria since Assad was toppled, seizing ground in the southwest, declaring a willingness to protect the Druze minority, lobbying Washington for a weak state, and blowing up much of the Syrian military’s heavy weapons and equipment in the days after he fell.

Syria’s state news agency SANA said that Israeli shelling had killed nine people in the area, during what it described as the deepest incursion yet by Israeli troops in the area. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that the airstrikes late on Wednesday evening were “a clear message and a warning for the future — we will not allow the security of the State of Israel to be harmed”.

UN accuses Tel Aviv of destabilising Damascus

Katz said in a statement that Israel’s armed forces would remain in buffer zones within Syria and act against threats to its security, warning Syria’s government it would pay a heavy price if it allowed forces hostile to Israel to enter.

Reflecting Israeli concerns about Turkish influence in the new Syria, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Ankara of playing a “negative role” there, in Lebanon and other regions.

“They are doing their utmost to have Syria as a Turkish protectorate. It’s clear that is their intention,” he told a press conference in Paris. The Syrian foreign ministry said the Israeli strikes were an unjustified escalation aimed at destablising the country, calling on the international community to put pressure on Israel to “stop its aggression”.

UN condemnation

The United Nations on Thursday accused Israel of destabilising Syria. The UN envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, decried “the repeated and intensifying military escalations by Israel in Syria, including air strikes that have reportedly resulted in civilian casualties”.

“Such actions undermine efforts to build a new Syria at peace with itself and the region, and destabilise Syria at a sensitive time,” he said in a statement.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the dead were fighters who were killed “while attempting to confront Israeli forces, following calls by the mosques in the area for jihad against the Israeli incursion”.

Air base destroyed

The latest strikes were some of the most intensive Israeli attacks in Syria since Assad was toppled. The Syrian foreign ministry said Israel struck five separate areas within a 30-minute window, resulting in the near-complete destruction of the Hama air base and wounding several civilians and soldiers. “This unjustified escalation is a deliberate attempt to destabilise Syria and exacerbate the suffering of its people,” it said in a statement on Telegram.

The Israeli military said it had struck remaining military capabilities at air bases in Hama and Homs provinces, in addition to remaining military infrastructure in the Dam­ascus area, where Syrian media and officials said the vicinity of a scientific research facility was hit.

In Hama, a Syrian military source said a dozen strikes demolished the runways, tower, arms depots and hangars at the military airport. “Israel has completely destroyed Hama air base to ensure it is not used,” the source said.

In Hama, a Syrian military source told Reuters a dozen strikes demolished the runways, tower, arms depots and hangars at the military airport. “Israel has completely destroyed Hama air base to ensure it is not used,” the source said.

Israel also said on Wednesday it targeted the T4 air base in Homs province, which it has repeatedly hit over the past week.

‘Military threat’

An angry crowd gathered on Thursday for the funeral of those killed in Daraa. “This is an agricultural area… where no one threatens Israeli forces. We want to live in peace, but we do not accept attacks,” said one of them, 48-year-old Khaled al-Awdat.

The Israeli military said its forces had been conducting operations in the Tasil area, near Nawa. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded in February that southern Syria be completely demilitarised and said his government would not accept the presence of the forces of the new religious-led government near Israeli territory.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2025