While the IDF regularly releases statements on Gaza and Lebanon, Israel’s objectives in Syria are largely unknown, shrouded in secrecy.
By Jason Ditz, reposted from AntWar.com, July 12, 2026
Israeli ground troops have continued to launch southwest Syria with such frequency that it is now considered a daily occurrence in some parts of the Quneitra and Daraa Governorates.
Contrasting regular statements on their military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, the IDF rarely comments at all on their incursions into Syria, and exactly what the operations in the country aim to accomplish are increasingly uncertain.
Military incursions into villages near the frontier with the occupied Golan Heights are increasingly common, along with the usual operation of entering Syria, establishing a temporary military checkpoint, and hassling passers-by.
The incursions are happening with more frequency, with reports of Israeli forces entering the village of al-Asha in Quneitra and searching a civilian home, along with raiding and searching a livestock feed warehouse.
While rummaging through a feed warehouse is seemingly not hugely impactful, it does speak to the IDF’s increasing interest in target the substantial industry of southwest Syria, which is agriculture, while settlers advocate pushing into the area outright and settling it with Israeli farms.
In addition to the incursions by ground troops, Israeli forces are also conducting an increased number of artillery strikes against the area. No casualties have been reported in the recent shelling, which seems to have targeted farmland instead of densely populated areas.
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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