Katz: Israel is attacking forcefully southern Syria to evacuate it of weapons

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz admitted that the Israeli army carried out raids on the capital Damascus on Tuesday evening, threatening that any attempt by Syrian regime forces to position themselves in the security zone in southern Syria will be responded to with fire.

“Now the air force is attacking southern Syria with force as part of the new policy we have set to demilitarize southern Syria – and the message is clear: We’ll not allow southern Syria to become southern Lebanon,” Katz said in a statement from his office.

He continued, “We’ll not endanger the security of our citizens and any attempt by the Syrian regime forces and terrorist organizations in the country to position themselves in the security zone in southern Syria will be responded to with fire”.

For its part, the Israeli army said in a statement that it had attacked, during the last few hours, “military targets in southern Syria, including command headquarters and sites containing combat equipment”.

He claimed that the presence of military means and forces in the southern part of Syria poses a threat to the citizens of the State of Israel.

He pointed out that he will continue to work to remove any threat.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, Israel carried out air strikes on several points in the countryside of the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the southern province of Dara’a.

The Israeli warplanes targeted the al Kiswah area in the Damascus countryside and the Izraa area in Dara’a with at least four airstrikes.

The raids targeted a weapons depot in al Kiswah, causing a fire to break out at the scene.

On Monday, Israel demanded that Syria be transformed into a federal state with autonomous regions.

“A stable Syria can only be a federal Syria that includes different autonomous regions and respects different ways of life,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said during the EU-Israel Association Council meeting in Brussels, according to a statement by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country wouldn’t allow the new Syrian army to deploy south of Damascus.

“We demand that the area south of Damascus be demilitarized,” Netanyahu said during a press conference at a graduation ceremony for officers held in the city of Holon, near Tel Aviv.

He added, “We’ll not allow the new Syrian army to deploy in this region, and we will not accept any threat to the Druze community in southern Syria”.

Since 1967, Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights, and took advantage of the new situation in Syria to occupy the Syrian buffer zone, and launched air strikes that destroyed military sites, vehicles and ammunition of the Syrian army.