Syria: Israel Denies IDF Tanks Are Approaching Damascus, “Israel Does Not Intervene in the Internal Syrian Conflict”

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday denied reports that IDF tanks have entered Syria and are approaching Damascus following the collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Sunday, the Jerusalem Post reports. At the same time, the IDF said it has carried out hundreds of strikes against military targets in Syria to ensure that weapons and equipment that may be used against neighboring Israel do not fall into the hands of “hostile elements” entering the power vacuum left by Assad.

On Tuesday morning Arab sources cited by Israeli media asserted that IDF tanks had been seen close to Damascus. “An Israeli military incursion into southern Syria has reached about 25 kilometers (16 miles) southwest of the capital, Damascus, two regional security sources and one Syrian security source said on Tuesday,” JPost explained in its report. “The Syrian security source said Israeli troops reached Qatana, which is 10 kilometers into Syrian territory east of a demilitarized zone separating Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria,” JPost said.

However, IDF Arabic media spokesperson Colonel Avichay Adraee said in a statement that Israeli troops had not breached the official and longstanding buffer zone between Israel and Syrian territory. “It’s not true. The forces have not left the buffer zone,” Adraee said.

“Reports circulating in some media outlets claiming that IDF forces are advancing or approaching Damascus are completely incorrect,” Adraee wrote in a post on X/Twitter. “IDF forces are present inside the buffer zone and at defensive points close to the border in order to protect the Israeli border.”

Moreover, in a letter to the United Nations Security Council, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said the IDF had carried out “limited and temporary” operations and for the purpose of securing Israel’s border amid the political uncertainty in Syria. “Israel does not intervene in the internal Syrian conflict,” Danon wrote.

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