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The Israeli military said it had struck sites in southern Syria on Tuesday, just hours after the new Syrian leadership demanded that Israel withdraw from territory it has seized since the fall of the Assad regime.<\/p>\n
The attacks were aimed at \u201cmilitary targets in southern Syria, including headquarters and sites containing weapons,\u201d the Israeli military said in a statement. It added, \u201cThe presence of military assets and forces in the southern part of Syria constitutes a threat\u201d to Israeli citizens.<\/p>\n
Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, said in a statement late on Tuesday that the attacks were part of a \u201cnew policy\u201d of ensuring a \u201cdemilitarized southern Syria.\u201d He added that \u201cany attempt\u201d by either Syrian forces or militant groups to establish a presence in what Israel has deemed its \u201csecurity zone\u201d in the region \u201cwill be met with fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
That policy was announced by Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday in a speech demanding \u201cthe complete demilitarization\u201d of southern Syria. The speech and Israel\u2019s actions drew the condemnation of Syria\u2019s new government on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The country\u2019s interim president, Ahmed al-Shara<\/a>, presided over a national unity conference on Tuesday that was intended to build consensus around the nation\u2019s political and economic future. It concluded with a statement decrying Israeli incursions in Syria and rejecting \u201cthe provocative statements of the Israeli prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n Syria\u2019s new government said Israel was violating Syria\u2019s sovereignty and a longstanding agreement, and called on the international community to pressure Israel \u201cto stop the aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Israel has been striking in Syria since before the fall of the country\u2019s longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad<\/a>, saying it aimed to curb the flow of arms and money from Iran to the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Since the rebel alliance led by Mr. al-Shara ousted Mr. al-Assad<\/a>, and Mr. al-Shara became Syria\u2019s leader, Israel has seized territory near their shared border and has been attacking military assets.<\/p>\n The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group based in Britain, said on Tuesday that Israeli forces have struck in Syria 16 times this year<\/a>. Most of the attacks were conducted by the air force and two were ground strikes, the observatory said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n While Israeli leaders have for months made it clear they intend for their troops to remain in the border regions within what is supposed to be a buffer zone overseen by international peacekeepers, their declarations about a demilitarized southern Syria represent an escalation that has heightened tensions within Syria.<\/p>\n Mr. Netanyahu in his speech singled out three southern provinces in Syria, saying Israel would not tolerate Syrian forces in Quneitra, Dara\u2019a and Sweida. On Tuesday, Syria\u2019s state news agency reported demonstrations in Sweida in response to those statements<\/a> and Israeli actions. Syrian news media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported demonstrations<\/a> against Israeli actions in the other two provinces on Monday and Tuesday.<\/p>\n Israel invaded border villages in Syria after the Assad regime was toppled in what it described as temporary measures to protect its own security. But the Israeli raids continued throughout January and into February, raising fears among Syrians<\/a> that the incursions could become a prolonged military occupation.<\/p>\n Mr. al-Shara\u2019s government is seeking to create a national army to absorb Syria\u2019s many militias, but some are resistant to joining and control significant territory and resources like farmland and oil. The Israeli actions and statements have been viewed by some Syrians as an attempt to sow further divisions<\/a> and prevent national unity.<\/p>\n The United Nations and some member states have said that Israel is violating a decades-long cease-fire between Syria and Israel by sending its troops within and beyond the buffer zone, which was established in a 1974 Security Council resolution in the wake of a war between the two nations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n On Tuesday, the Israeli military also said it had struck in Lebanon, attacking people it identified as militants who it said were operating in a Hezbollah weapons production and storage facility. Lebanon\u2019s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, said two people were killed and three were injured.<\/p>\n Israel has been fighting on multiple fronts since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack ignited a war in Gaza and prompted Hezbollah to fire rockets and drones into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel and Lebanon entered a cease-fire agreement in late November, but Israel has continued to attack what it says are Hezbollah targets and militants since then.<\/p>\n Israel and Gaza are near the end of the first phase of a cease-fire. As part of that deal, hostages taken by Hamas in the initial attack have been exchanged for Palestinians jailed in Israel. Late on Tuesday, Hamas said that mediators had reached an agreement on the release of Palestinian prisoners<\/a> who were supposed to be freed on Saturday.<\/p>\n Israel had delayed the release abruptly after six Israeli hostages were freed, saying it would wait until Hamas committed to releasing them without \u201chumiliating ceremonies.\u201d Israeli news media reported<\/a> shortly after midnight Tuesday local time that the release would take place within 24 hours, with Hamas at the same time transferring the bodies of four deceased hostages to Egypt.<\/p>\n Raja Abdulrahim and Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n