Israeli airstrike targets new Syrian authorities, three killed

An Israeli airstrike on Wednesday targeted a military convoy in southern Syria, marking the first strike against the forces of Syria’s new authorities following the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad by Islamist groups.

The attack, which occurred in the Quneitra region, resulted in the deaths of three individuals, including two members of the Military Operations Department and a local civilian, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and medical sources.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory, confirmed that this was the first airstrike on the security forces of the new authorities that emerged after Assad’s removal. The operation reportedly targeted security forces conducting a sweep in the area to search for weapons hidden in civilian homes.

Since December 8, following Assad’s ousting, Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes against Syria’s former military forces, significantly depleting the country’s military arsenal.

On the same day Assad was toppled, Israel also announced the occupation of a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights, an area that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces since 1974. Israel had previously seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 war and later annexed it, a move not widely recognized internationally.