Israeli Troops Stage Rare Ground Raid Near Damascus Amid U.S.-Brokered Talks

by Emmitt Barry, with reporting from Worthy News Jerusalem Bureau Staff

DAMASCUS/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israeli commandos carried out a rare overnight ground raid near Damascus, Syrian state media said Thursday, marking one of the deepest Israeli incursions into Syrian territory since the fall of the Assad regime last year.

The hours-long operation unfolded near the town of Kiswah in the Damascus suburbs and was backed by Israeli fighter jets and helicopters, according to Syrian officials. The site, described as a former Syrian military base at Tal Maneh, once used by Iranian forces, was reportedly occupied by elements of Syria’s new army.

Syrian state media said the raid followed discoveries of “surveillance and eavesdropping devices” allegedly planted by Israel. At least six Syrian soldiers were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes that preceded the ground assault, state television reported. Two Syrian army sources told AFP that dozens of Israeli soldiers were flown into the area and conducted a two-hour operation before withdrawing.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the targeted site also stored weapons used by Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia and longtime ally of Syria’s former ruler, Bashar al-Assad. It said the raid was the first such Israeli ground operation near Damascus since Assad’s ouster in December.

Israel declined to confirm the raid. Defense Minister Israel Katz posted Thursday on X that Israeli forces are “operating in all of the theaters of battle day and night for the security of Israel.”

Heightened Tensions During Negotiations

The raid comes as U.S. mediators push forward “advanced” talks between Israel and Syria to stabilize the region. Negotiations have focused on a security pact based on the 1974 disengagement lines established after the Yom Kippur War. However, Israel has demanded the complete demilitarization of the Damascus-Israeli border corridor.

Analysts say Israel may be working to secure its intelligence and military foothold inside Syria before agreeing to any deal that could require it to withdraw troops. “Israel is starting to acknowledge its presence there is temporary and will be over soon if there’s a security pact,” said Carmit Valensi of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Syrian officials, meanwhile, condemned the raid as a “grave violation of international law” and a “direct threat to peace and security in the region.” Damascus has lodged complaints at the United Nations but has so far avoided a military response.

Reports of Land Swap Rejected

The raid also coincided with a period of political turbulence in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dismissed as “fake news” a report claiming Israel had weighed ceding Mount Dov (Shebaa Farms) to Syria in return for recognition of Israeli control over the Golan Heights. Netanyahu’s office stressed that Israel “never considered” the move.

Expanding Israeli Presence

Since Assad’s fall, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes and more than 400 ground incursions into Syrian territory, according to data compiled by analysts. The IDF is currently deployed at nine posts in southern Syria, some as deep as 15 kilometers from the Israeli border.

Defense Minister Katz vowed earlier this week that troops would remain in place until a binding security arrangement is reached, saying the lessons of October 7 made such deployments “a necessity to defend Israel’s north.”

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