Israel shells residential areas in southwestern Syria

DAMASCUS

The Israeli army launched artillery strikes on residential areas in Syria’s Daraa governorate, local sources told Anadolu on Tuesday.

The sources said that Israeli forces carried out nine artillery attacks in the southwestern region but did not confirm any casualties.

Following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Dec. 8, 2024, Israel expanded its territorial control in the occupied Golan Heights, seizing a buffer zone and Mount Hermon. It also escalated strikes on infrastructure and military sites across Syria.

Israeli forces have been systematically dismantling the remaining military infrastructure of the former Syrian regime while extending their control within the buffer zone surrounding the Golan Heights. The Israeli military’s reach has now extended up to 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the capital Damascus.

Israel has also declared the collapse of the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria and deployed its forces across the demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights, most of which it has occupied since 1967. The move has drawn condemnation from the UN and Arab states.

In 1974, Syria and Israel signed a disengagement agreement that established the boundaries of the buffer zone and the demilitarized area.