UN accuses Israel of destabilising Syria after launching attacks

Damascus, Syria (AFP) April 3 - The United Nations on Thursday accused Israel of destabilising Syria after a wave of strikes on military targets, including an airport, and a ground incursion killed 13 people.

Since Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has launched an extensive bombing campaign against Syrian military assets and conducted ground incursions into southern Syria to push back the new government's forces from the border.

Debris and military vehicles lie at the scene of an Israeli strike in Syria's southern Hama governorate, on April 3, 2025. Israel has carried out an extensive bombing campaign against Syrian military assets since Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in November 2024. It has also carried out ground incursions into southern Syria in a bid to keep the forces of the new government back from the border. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)

The UN envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, decried "the repeated and intensifying military escalations by Israel in Syria, including air strikes that have reportedly resulted in civilian casualties".

"Such actions undermine efforts to build a new Syria at peace with itself and the region, and destabilise Syria at a sensitive time," he said in a statement.

Authorities in the southern province of Daraa said nine civilians were killed and several wounded in Israeli shelling overnight near the town of Nawa.

The provincial government said the bombardment came amid Israel's deepest ground incursion into southern Syria so far.

Israel said it responded to fire from gunmen during an operation in southern Syria and warned interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa he would face severe consequences if its security was threatened.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the dead were gunmen who were killed "while attempting to confront Israeli forces, following calls by the mosques in the area for jihad against the Israeli incursion".

- 'Military threat' -

An angry crowd gathered on Thursday for the funeral of those killed in Daraa.

"This is an agricultural area... where no one threatens Israeli forces. We want to live in peace, but we do not accept attacks," said one of them, 48-year-old Khaled al-Awdat.

The Israeli military said its forces had been conducting operations in the Tasil area, near Nawa, "seizing weapons and destroying terrorist infrastructure" when "several gunmen fired at our forces".

They "responded by firing at them and eliminated several armed terrorists from the ground and from the air", a spokesperson said. There were no Israeli casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded in February that southern Syria be completely demilitarised and said his government would not accept the presence of the forces of the new Islamist-led government near Israeli territory.

In December, Netanyahu ordered troops to enter the UN-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces along the 1974 armistice line on the Golan Heights.

On Wednesday, Israel hit targets across Syria including in the Damascus area.

The Syrian foreign ministry said the strikes resulted in the "near-total destruction" of a military airport in the central province of Hama and wounded dozens of civilians and soldiers.

"This unjustified escalation is a deliberate attempt to destabilise Syria and exacerbate the suffering of its people," it said in a statement on Telegram.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz hit back with a warning to Sharaa in which he pointedly referred to the president by the nom de guerre he used as an Islamist rebel commander.

"I warn Syrian leader Jolani: If you allow hostile forces to enter Syria and threaten Israeli security interests, you will pay a heavy price," he said.

- 'Normalise violence'-

"The air force's activity yesterday near the airports in T4, Hama and the Damascus area sends a clear message and serves as a warning for the future," he added, noting additional strikes on sites in the Damascus area.

A Syrian source told AFP that the T4 airbase was coveted by the new government's main foreign backer, Turkey, for future use by its military.

Speaking during a visit to Paris on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Turkey of playing a "negative role in Syria".

"We don't think Syria should be a Turkish protectorate," he said.

Israel has said it wants to prevent advanced weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities, whom it considers jihadists.

Sharaa fought for Al-Qaeda in Iraq after the US-led invasion of 2003 and later set up a Syrian branch of the jihadist network before breaking off all ties.

The Syrian ministry said the Israeli strikes came as the country was trying to rebuild after 14 years of war, calling it a strategy to "normalise violence within the country".

Neighbouring Jordan said Israel's repeated attacks on Syrian territory constituted a clear breach of the 1974 disengagement agreement between the two countries and a "flagrant violation of international law".

During a visit to Jerusalem last month, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Israeli strikes on Syria were "unnecessary" and risked further escalation.