Adding to the difficulties in southern Syria’s Suwayda Governorate, Israel has carried out airstrikes against Syrian tanks in the village of Samee, claiming they had entered the “restricted zone” which they are forbidden from.
The village is in the northwestern part of the Suwayda Governorate. The restricted zone only exists as such on paper, as it is something Israeli officials unilaterally declared in February, announcing that Syria’s military is forbidden from being in any position south of Damascus.
Technically the tanks were south of Damascus, though again this restriction was entirely something Israel made up. Syria’s deployment of the tanks appears related to ongoing fighting around the city of Suwayda, with Druze and Bedouin locals engaged in heavy fighting since Sunday.
Defense Minister Israel Katz tried to present this as something to do with “protecting the Druze,” which has often been an excuse when Israel attacks anything in Suwayda. In practice though it’s not clear this was more than a pretext, and the Israeli Army’s initial statement didn’t mention it at all, insisting the tanks posed a “threat” to Israeli territory.
That’s a tough argument to make, as the village is far from the Israeli border, and indeed not even particularly close to the parts of Syria which Israel is already actively occupying further to the West.
This latest Israeli attack on Syria comes amid ongoing talks with the Syrian government about normalization. Reportedly the talks have included discussions of allowing Syria to take over northern Lebanon in return for letting Israel keep parts of southwestern Syria.
Though such talks have been confirmed to be taking place, Israeli officials have tended to downplay them, not even bringing them up when military operations against Syria are happening. So far Syria has not responded to the latest attacks.
