Israeli Ground Forces Raid Bombed Site Near Damascus After Consecutive Airstrikes
Israeli ground forces raid bombed site near Damascus after consecutive airstrikes, Syrian media reports. Six soldiers killed in initial strike; site reportedly used by Hezbollah. Rare incursion marks escalation amid ongoing Israeli campaign.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Israeli ground troops carried out a rare raid on Wednesday at a Syrian site already bombed twice within 24 hours, Syrian state media reported, marking an escalation in Israel’s military campaign against regime and allied positions near Damascus.
According to Syria’s state-run SANA news agency, the raid targeted a location near Kisweh, southwest of Damascus, which had come under Israeli bombardment on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Damascus’ foreign ministry confirmed that six Syrian soldiers were killed in the initial strike.
Quoting government sources, SANA said Syrian troops discovered surveillance and eavesdropping devices at the site before the airstrikes. A Syrian defense ministry official, speaking anonymously to AFP, identified the location as a former military base in Tal Maneh near Kisweh.
Israel's defence minister said Thursday its forces were operating in "all combat zones", after Syrian state media reported a raid by Israeli ground troops on a site it had already bombed outside Damascus.
"Our forces are operating in all combat zones day and night for the security of Israel," Israel Katz said on X, without elaborating. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military declined to comment.
כוחותינו פועלים בכל זירות הלחימה יום וליל למען ביטחון ישראל
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) August 28, 2025
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) told Kurdistan24 that the bombed facility had been used by the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, a key ally of Syria’s former ruler Bashar al-Assad. The Observatory said the ground raid marked Israel’s first such incursion since Assad’s overthrow in December.
The ground raid followed an extensive aerial campaign earlier on Wednesday. Three Israeli warplanes launched around ten strikes on military positions in Jabal al-Mana near Harjala and the Druze village of Deir Ali in southern Rif Damascus, SOHR confirmed.
Rami Abdulrahman, director of SOHR, told Kurdistan24 that a helicopter was also seen flying over the area. The sites lie just 10 kilometers from the Damascus International Fairgrounds, where President Ahmed al-Sharaa and foreign delegations had gathered for the event’s opening.
No confirmed reports on casualties or material damage from the latest strikes have yet been released.
The escalation comes a day after an explosion killed four Syrian soldiers and wounded four others in Kisweh on Tuesday. The victims were members of the Syrian army’s 44th Division, including at least one officer, according to SOHR.
Eyewitnesses reported Israeli drones operating over Rif Damascus at the time of the blast, though no side officially claimed responsibility. The incident occurred only hours after Syrian state media said an Israeli strike in Quneitra killed one civilian, drawing condemnation from Damascus.
Wednesday’s raids are the latest in a series of Israeli escalations against Syrian regime positions. On July 16, 2025, Israeli airstrikes hit the General Staff Headquarters and the Presidential Palace in central Damascus, causing explosions in Umayyad Square, one of the capital’s most fortified areas.
SANA reported 13 injuries in those attacks, while Reuters confirmed fatalities inside the Ministry of Defense. Israeli Channel 12 cited security sources as saying the strikes deliberately targeted both the Presidential Palace and military headquarters.
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes across Syria, targeting regime, Hezbollah, and Iranian-linked positions, while occupying parts of the UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the Syrian-controlled side of the armistice line.
Despite the escalating raids, Israel has also opened talks with the interim authorities in Damascus, underscoring the dual track of military action and political engagement.
The ground incursion near Kisweh—following consecutive airstrikes and occurring just kilometers from Damascus’s international showcase—marks a significant escalation in Israel’s campaign, raising the stakes for both the Syrian regime’s remnants and its allies.
This article was Updated at 9:34
