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A series of strikes hit the town of Najha which is located some 15 kilometers to the south of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on March 23, amid renewed incursions by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the south of the country.
The Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV said that the strikes hit military sites and a housing complex for officers near Najha, adding that Israel was behind the attack. Nevertheless, Israeli Army Radio denied later, citing Israeli security officials, that the IDF was behind the strikes.
Ahead of the strikes video footage posted to social networks showed Syrian government forces transporting heavy military equipment, including ZSU-23-4 Shilka self-propelled, radar-guided anti-aircraft weapon systems, from the southern governorate of Daraa in the direction of Damascus.
Following the fall of the Assad regime last December, the IDF invaded the buffer zone adjacent to the Golan Heights in the southern governorate of al-Qunitra and established nine posts there. The military also launched hundreds of strikes against the country, destroying much of its combat capabilities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that southern Syria must be completely demilitarized, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of the forces of Syria’s Islamist government near its territory.
Just a day before the strikes on Najha, the IDF attacked two key air bases in the central Syria governorate of Homs, one known as the T4 and another located near the ancient city of Palmyra. The military said that the strikes hit “strategic military capabilities.”
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 12 government fighters were wounded as a result of the Israeli strikes.
Video footage from the T4 Air Base also showed the wreckage of what appears to be a Soviet-made Su-24MK2 fighter bomber that was destroyed in one of the strikes.
The recent strikes came amid renewed incursions by the IDF in southern Syria. On March 22, Israeli troops stormed the town of Umm al-Azam in the governorate of al-Qunitra and arrested four people. The next day, another force entered the town of Ma’ariya in the western Daraa countryside where it inspected several houses.
As Israel continues to escalate its operations in Syria, the country’s new rulers remain silent. Aside from a few condamnations, the governorate has done nothing to address the ever growing Israeli threat.
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