Israeli troops reported outside of Damascus

Russian report claims that Israeli ground troops were deployed via helicopter to an area outside the Syrian capital of Damascus, possibly in search of remains of executed Israeli spy.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli ground forces were spotted operating outside of the Syrian capital city of Damascus on Monday, according to a report Tuesday by the Russian media outlet Sputnik.

The report claimed that an IDF helicopter landed near Damasus Monday night, allowing Israeli soldiers to disembark.

Sources cited by the report claimed that the IDF troops operated near the helicopter landing site for 20 minutes before moving south.

“Soldiers entered the site and left after about 20 minutes, heading toward southern Syria.”

Later Monday night, airstrikes attributed to Israel were reported in the Sitt Zaynab area outside of Damascus.

Arab media outlets reported Monday and Tuesday that the IDF has increased its operations in and around the buffer zone along the Syrian frontier.

Al-Mayadeen, a Lebanese outlet aligned with Hezbollah, claimed Tuesday that Israeli forces were operating inside the town of Hader in Syria.

IDF officers have reportedly met with leaders from local Druze communities, some of which have urged Israel to take control of the area following the collapse of the Assad regime.

A report by The Times of Israel claimed that Israeli forces have been operating in Syrian territory in a bid to locate the remains of Eli Cohen, an Israeli spy executed in 1965 after he infiltrated the Syrian military intelligence establishment.

Following the removal of President Bashar Assad from power on December 8th, Israel’s military has also operated across Syria to dismantle the country’s offensive capabilities, including chemical weapons facilities, arms caches, naval and air bases, and missile emplacements.

On Monday, Israeli forces decimated Syria’s air defense network and struck missile depots in the Tartous region on the Mediterranean coast in what the anti-regime Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called the “heaviest strikes” on the area in over a decade.