Israel threatening peace in Syria – Türkiye

Israeli forces have seized Syrian territory and conducted massive air raids following the fall of Assad’s government

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has accused Israel of undermining the prospects of peace in Syria. He also called on all parties in the war-torn nation to ensure ethnic and religious cohesion.

A number of armed opposition groups led by Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) mounted a surprise offensive in late November, capturing several major cities, and eventually seizing the capital, Damascus, on Saturday. Assad and his family fled to Russia, where they were granted asylum.

Ankara is believed to have supported some of the Syrian opposition factions that ousted Assad over the weekend.

Israeli troops then invaded southern Syria, with the purpose of creating a buffer zone to prevent terrorist attacks, according to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Addressing Türkiye’s parliament on Tuesday, Fidan stated that “Israel jeopardizes the process by which the Syrian people are approaching peace and tranquility.” He claimed that “Israel, which destroyed Gaza, now threatens the future of our Syrian brothers and sisters.”

According to the foreign minister, “Türkiye attaches great importance to Syria’s national unity, stability, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and prosperity.” Ankara will be working with all regional and global stakeholders to achieve these aims, he added.

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Speaking to reporters the following day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov similarly remarked that Israeli “strikes [and] actions near the Golan Heights are hardly conducive to the stabilization of the situation in an already destabilized Syria.”

On Tuesday, Israeli media quoted the country’s Defense Minister Israel Katz as saying that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would establish a “sterile defense zone” in southern Syria without a permanent Israeli presence to prevent potential terrorist threats. Soon after the fall of Assad’s government, Israeli troops seized the demilitarized buffer zone created as part of the 1974 disengagement accord near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Also on Tuesday, the Times of Israel, citing the IDF, reported that the Israeli Air Force had struck some 320 targets in Syria since Saturday. These reportedly included air-defense systems, missile depots, drones, helicopters, fighter jets, tanks, radars, and navy vessels. According to the newspaper, more than 70% of Damascus’ military capabilities have now been destroyed.

Israel insists that these preemptive military actions were aimed at preventing hostile entities, such as the Lebanese-based Shiite militant group Hezbollah, from getting hold of advanced weaponry.