Tensions flare as rockets from Syria prompt Israeli airstrikes, despite Syria’s new government seeking stability and rejecting hostile acts.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANJUNE 4, 2025 10:16Updated: JUNE 4, 2025 11:20
Syria’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that it could not confirm reports about rockets being fired from Syria toward Israel the previous evening.
The IDF said that “following the projectiles launched toward Israeli territory earlier today (Tuesday), IDF fighter jets struck weapons belonging to the Syrian regime in the area of Southern Syria.”
The IDF also said that “the Syrian regime is responsible for the current situation in Syria, and will continue to bear the consequences as long as hostile activity continues from its territory. The IDF will operate against every threat posed to the State of Israel.”
Syria’s new government in a complex spot
Syria’s new government is now in a complex spot. Since the overthrow of the Assad regime on December 8, the new government of Syria has attempted to get along with Israel. It has been clear that it is not a threat to Israel. It has also cracked down on Palestinian terrorist groups, detaining members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and getting other groups to leave. The Assad regime was an ally of Iran and Hezbollah.
It enabled weapons smuggling to Hezbollah. The new government prevents smuggling. The new government is also a partner of Turkey and Qatar. Israel increasingly views Ankara as a potential challenge in Syria. US President Donald Trump met with Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Shara’a, in May. Trump then appointed a new envoy, Tom Barrack, to reopen the ambassador’s residence in Syria and work to engage with Damascus.
Israel has not been as keen on Syria. Israel carried out thousands of airstrikes to deter Iranian entrenchment in Syria between 2013 and 2024. This was called the Campaign Between the Wars. When Assad fell, Israel shifted to being against the new government as well. Israeli officials have accused Shara’a of being a “jihadist.” However, the Shara’a government has attempted to show that it is not a threat. It has given up its extremist past and tried to unify Syria.
A view shows a damaged building in the aftermath of what Syrian state media reported was an Israeli strike in the Mezzah suburb, west of Damascus, Syria October 9, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/FIRAS MAKDESI)
Israel’s demands and actions
Israel has insisted that southern Syria be demilitarized and has threatened Shara’a and the new Syrian government with force. The IDF has carried out numerous strikes in southern Syria over the last six months. The IDF says this is aimed at threats, such as the former equipment of the Assad regime.
The Syrian government said, according to Syria’s Al-Ikhbariah, that “we believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilize the region to achieve their own interests.” The Syrian government also said on June 4 that “we also affirm that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region, and that the top priority in southern Syria lies in extending state authority and ending the presence of weapons outside official institutions, thus ensuring security and stability for all citizens.”
The Syrian government also condemned Israel’s airstrikes and bombardment of southern Syria that took place after the rocket attack on June 3. It’s not clear what was struck in southern Syria. However, it seems Israel struck Syrian government posts in response to rockets that a different group fired. The Syrian government can’t secure southern Syria because Israel wants the area demilitarized.
The effect of this is that the area has weak security, and threats can infiltrate this area. Israel then holds the Syrian government responsible for not stopping the threats, even though Israel also doesn’t want the Syrian government to deploy sufficient forces in southern Syria to stop the threats. This leaves a situation of possible chaos, similar to what happened in Gaza, the West Bank, and southern Lebanon.
Syria said on Wednesday that it “also strongly condemns the Israeli bombing that targeted villages and towns in Daraa Governorate, which resulted in massive human and material losses. This escalation represents a blatant violation of Syrian sovereignty and increases tensions in the region at a time when we are most in need of calm and peaceful solutions.
We call on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities in halting these attacks and to support efforts aimed at restoring security and stability to Syria and the region.” The report at Al-Ikhbariah said, “Israeli attacks resumed in southern Syria, with Israeli occupation forces shelling the Saham al-Golan area west of Daraa. This came after Israeli allegations that two rockets launched from southern Syria had fallen in the occupied Golan Heights.”
Al-Ain media in the UAE noted that “Syrian security sources told Reuters that Israel is launching a series of raids on targets in the south of the country.” The same report noted that Israel’s Defense Minister had said Israel holds the Syrian president responsible for any threats directed at Israel. “We will respond with all decisiveness as soon as possible. We will not allow a return to the reality of October 7, 2023,” Israel’s Defense Minister said.
Syria’s foreign ministry is clear that the country does not pose a threat to Israel or others. Al-In noted that the statement by the ministry added “that the top priority in southern Syria is to extend state authority and end the presence of weapons outside official institutions, ensuring security and stability for all citizens.” The reports went on to note that Israeli strikes targeted areas near Izraa in the eastern Daraa countryside, Tal Shaar in the Quneitra countryside, and the Saasaa and Kanaker areas in the Damascus countryside.
The incidents in southern Syria come as Syria tries to conduct outreach in the region. Syria’s foreign minister met with Qatari officials. Syria’s Minister of Defense, Major General Murhaf Abu Qasra, received the Chargé d’Affaires of the French Embassy in Syria, Jean-Baptiste Faivre, and Lieutenant-Colonel Henri Le Masne de Chermont on June 3. Syria’s SANA also discussed Syrian outreach to Turkey on labor relations and also Pakistan on scientific exchange. There were also talks in Qatar about energy cooperation and sports cooperation.
The last thing Syria’s new government wants is destabilization in southern Syria. It is not clear what group may be behind the rocket fire. Reports online mentioned an Iranian-linked group and a pro-Palestinian group.
These nefarious actors want to undermine the region and also sow chaos and conflict between Israel and Syria. Israel and Syria today have common interests in confronting Iranian smuggling and Iranian-backed militias. The Syrian civil war enabled Iran to hollow out Syria and infiltrate Syria more than in the past. Removing Assad presents an opportunity to stabilize this area.
However, weakening the Syrian government in southern Syria could lead to armed groups entering the area and threatening Israel, much as happened in Lebanon due to a weak state. Syria is saying it wants to go into the south and root out the weapons that are not in the hands of the state. The rocket fire could lead to a wake-up call that Israel and Syria could cooperate. The new US envoy in Damascus might play a role. The question now is whether the rhetoric can change and progress can be made; or whether more airstrikes and chaos are the future.
Content retrieved from: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-856481.
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