Syria accused Israel on Thursday of trying to destabilize the country after intense airstrikes on military bases and a deadly raid in southern Syria, part of a deepening incursion that is sharply raising tensions in the region.
Since the Assad regime was ousted from Syria last year in a rapid rebel offensive, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes and has deployed forces into southern Syria, in what it says are necessary security operations against potentially hostile forces. Israel’s latest ground incursion, which appeared to be one of the deepest and deadliest into Syria so far, sparked further outrage among some Syrians.
Syria’s new leaders have condemned Israel’s moves, accusing Israel of violating its rights, and many Syrians fear that the incursions could herald a long-term occupation.
The Syrian foreign ministry said that “dozens of civilians and soldiers” had been wounded in airstrikes that caused the “near-total destruction” of the military airport outside the city of Hama. The Israeli military said late Wednesday that it had carried out airstrikes on “military capabilities” at bases in Syria, including one in the Hama region and another in the center of the country, as well as military infrastructure in the area of Damascus, the capital.
In the south of the country, the governor’s office in Daraa said that at least nine people had been killed in attacks during an advance by Israeli forces toward the town of Tall al-Jabiye. A local activist, Ammar Jahmany, said in a telephone interview that the Israeli forces clashed with local fighters who were defending the approaches to the town.
Israel said in a post on Telegram that its forces had conducted a nighttime raid. It said its forces had confiscated weapons and “destroyed terrorist infrastructure.” After the troops came under fire by armed militants, the military killed several of them, the post said.
The Daraa governorate said that funerals for nine men who were killed would take place after noon prayers in the nearby city of Nawa. Mr. Jahmany, who is from Tall al-Jabiye, said that the death toll had risen to 11 and that 22 others had been wounded, five of them critically.
He described the men killed in the attack as civilian volunteers who went out to defend the town, among them a tailor, a shopkeeper and construction workers. Others were wounded in Israeli drone strikes on houses in the town, he said, adding that his uncle was admitted to a hospital with a shrapnel wound in his shoulder after a drone strike on his home.
In its airstrikes, Israel has sought to degrade Syria’s strategic military capability, bombing military bases so thoroughly as to make them inoperable, Western analysts have said.
Israel Katz, Israel’s defense minister, told ministry employees on Thursday that the latest strikes embodied “a clear message and a warning about the future — we will not allow harm to the security of the state of Israel.”
He added a warning to Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Shara, which was widely interpreted as an accusation that Mr. al-Shara would allow Turkish troops to establish bases in Syria, reflecting Israeli concerns about having a permanent Turkish presence closer to its border.
“If you allow hostile forces to Israel to enter Syria and endanger Israeli security interests, you will pay an extremely high price,” Mr. Katz said.
Syria’s foreign ministry accused Israel of deliberately seeking to undermine Syria and exacerbate the suffering of its people, and called on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to stop.
The Israeli airstrikes late Wednesday targeted five locations and occurred within a space of 30 minutes, the statement said. Videos of explosions, in particular those said to be at the Hama airport, were widely shared on social media in Syria, and news of the Israeli incursion in southern Syria further sparked anger.
A local activist, Muhammad Haroun, posted a video of a mosque calling people to arms to resist the Israeli incursion on Wednesday night. In its statement, the Daraa governorate said that widespread public anger was reaching new levels.
Six civilians were also killed in shelling by Israeli forces, and three others were killed in airstrikes in the same governorate last month, the local authorities reported.
Reporting was contributed by Muhammad Haj Kadour, Reham Mourshed, Adam Rasgon and Myra Noveck.
Carlotta Gall is a senior correspondent, covering the war in Ukraine. More about Carlotta Gall
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