By Seth Frantzman | December 5, 2025
Tensions between Israel and Syria have continued in the wake of a November 27 raid in southern Syria by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). On December 4, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), a state media outlet, accused Israel of a new incursion in southern Syria.
“Israeli occupation forces renewed their incursion Thursday evening into Quneitra countryside, attacking Tal Ahmar Sharqi and the outskirts of the town of Kuwaya in the Yarmouk Basin area of western Daraa countryside with artillery shells,” the report said. It is the latest in a series of incidents between Israel and Syria. The last major incursion took place on November 27, when an Israeli raid into the village of Beit Jinn resulted in six IDF soldiers being wounded and at least 13 Syrians killed.
In a December 1 post on the social media network Truth Social, US President Donald Trump called for talks between Israel and Syria and wrote in support of Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al Sharaa. “It is very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous state,” Trump posted. The call for negotiations came as US Ambassador to Turkey and Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack was in Damascus meeting with Syria’s president.
On December 2, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited IDF soldiers who had been wounded in the November 27 Beit Jinn raid, where he also laid out Israel’s policy regarding Syria. Netanyahu said Israel was protecting its northern border and working “to prevent the entrenchment of terrorists and hostile actions against us, to protect our Druze allies, and to ensure that the State of Israel is safe from ground attack and other attacks from the border areas.” He added that Israel expects Syria to “establish a demilitarized buffer zone from Damascus to the buffer zone area, including, of course, the approaches to Mount Hermon and the summit of Mount Hermon.”
The buffer zone is the area along the Golan border between Israel and Syria that formed part of the 1974 ceasefire line. IDF forces entered the zone on December 8, 2024, after Syria’s Bashar al Assad regime collapsed. Netanyahu and top Israeli officials had visited this area on November 19, highlighting the importance Israel places on holding its new positions near the Golan.
To highlight Israel’s commitment to securing the border with Syria, Major General Rafi Milo, the commander of IDF Northern Command, visited the Golan Heights on November 30. Milo conducted a situational assessment with troops and discussed the Beit Jinn raid, which the IDF noted was carried out by its 55th Brigade. Milo emphasized “the importance of proactive activity to counter terrorism in the security zone and the value of forward defense” in a statement distributed by the IDF. “We cannot wait for the enemy to attack, we must be proactive. We will not allow terrorism to establish itself along our borders,” he said.
Israel’s Syria policy has received increased attention in Israeli media in the wake of the Beit Jinn raid. For example, an opinion piece at the Ynet online newspaper discussed what Israel was getting wrong in Syria. “Israel’s posture since Assad’s fall lacks a clear strategic goal. The presence of Israeli forces in Syria has produced friction with civilians who once viewed Israel favorably,” wrote Elizabeth Tsurkov, a research fellow at the Forum for Regional Thinking at the Van Leer Institute and a doctoral candidate at Princeton University.
The clashes have also received attention in regional media. SANA noted on November 28 that Syria had condemned Israel’s “brutal” attack. The United Arab Emirates’ Al Ain News and Turkey’s Anadolu Agency have also spotlighted the incidents.
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