Israeli Airstrikes Kill Soldiers in Syria, Officials There Say

Israel has conducted two straight nights of air attacks on a suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, according to Syrian officials and state media, with reports that at least six Syrian soldiers had been killed in the strikes.

Syrian state media said that Israeli forces had also conducted a rare “airborne landing” in al-Kiswah, the same suburb that was targeted in airstrikes on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

The attacks were the latest escalation of Israeli military interventions in Syria since rebels ousted the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December and took power. Israel has since carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria, targeting military assets, and has seized a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in the south of the country.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes on al-Kiswah as a “clear breach of sovereignty and territorial integrity” and part of Israeli policies “aimed at undermining security and stability in the region.”

The offices of Israel’s prime minister and defense minister and the military declined to comment on the Syrian reports.

The attacks on al-Kiswah began Tuesday night with airstrikes that killed the Syrian soldiers, Syrian officials said on Wednesday. The soldiers were on patrol and had discovered “surveillance and eavesdropping equipment” in the area, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported on Wednesday. Other members of government security forces were said to have been injured and vehicles destroyed.

Israel launched more airstrikes on the Damascus suburb on Wednesday evening, according to Syrian state media. The Syrian reports did not say when the airborne landing took place.

The attacks this week followed an escalation last month when Israel intervened in a deadly wave of sectarian violence in Syria involving members of the Druse minority. During the unrest, Israel conducted airstrikes targeting Syrian forces in both Damascus and the Sweida province, in the south, after the government intervened in the sectarian fighting.

Israel said its military had intervened at that time to protect the Druse minority in Syria. Israel has close relations with its own Druse minority and has sought to strengthen its relationship with the Druse in southern Syria to foster a potential ally and to prevent hostile groups from entrenching near its border, according to experts on Israeli-Syrian relations.

The strikes last month were a notable escalation for Israel in Syria and prompted the Syrian president, Ahmed al-Shara, to accuse Israel of seeking to sow “chaos” in the country.

While Syria’s new authorities say they do not want a conflict with Israel, Israeli officials remain suspicious of the Islamist government and have cited security concerns when discussing military interventions in Syria.

This month, Syrian and Israeli officials met in Paris for U.S.-mediated talks to try to reset the relationship after decades of hostility between the two countries.

That meeting, between the Syrian foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, and an Israeli delegation, was the first time that Syria’s new government had publicly acknowledged holding direct talks with its longtime enemy.

Reham Mourshed, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Adam Rasgon and Natan Odenheimer contributed reporting.