Alongside sending a message to Turkey, Israel aims through its operations to completely destroy what remains of Syria’s military infrastructure, said researcher assistant Muhsen AlMustafa, a military and security affairs specialist at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, in a statement to Al-Khaleej Online.

• He explained that Israel is systematically destroying the entire military infrastructure in the buffer zone, expanding in Daraa, attacking areas in Damascus countryside, and bombing Hama military airport as well as the T-4 base in Homs.
• Israel is targeting the few remaining military sites in Syria after its frenzied bombing campaign that followed Assad’s fall, making rehabilitation extremely difficult.
• Tel Aviv seeks to ensure that the Syrian army does not return to southern Syria, thereby creating a demilitarized zone.
• Currently, the diplomatic option is the one on the table for the Syrian government. This explains why the Foreign Ministry is the one commenting on events, rather than the Defense Ministry, which would normally issue statements about such developments.
• While diplomacy is possible, the military option in its general sense is not.
• However, there is the possibility of supplying some fighters from Quneitra and Daraa with short-range, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to shoot down Israeli helicopters flying at accessible altitudes.
• Such a move would increase pressure on Israel and could force it to reconsider its maneuvers.
• Israel, however, may not respond to diplomatic or political pressure, as it claims to be pursuing an agenda tied to its national security.
• It is expected that Russia could step in as a mediator between Damascus and Tel Aviv, guaranteeing the borders in their previous state.
• But this would place additional pressure on the new Syrian government, as it would need to provide Russia with concessions in return for taking on such a role.
• Israel seems determined to undermine stability in the region and unsettle the new Syrian government.
• Netanyahu, meanwhile, is exporting crises abroad and continuing wars to secure political gains domestically.
• Matters appear increasingly complex, particularly as the Americans have stated they have no involvement in what is happening in Syria—an explicit denial of responsibility.
• Israeli pressure on Syria is expected to persist for a longer period, since Israel destroyed military infrastructure in Quneitra, uprooted trees, and leveled military positions entirely.
• When Israel realized there was no direct response from the Syrian administration, it began to expand in the southern region and then pushed deeper inland.
• No one knows how far Israel may go, nor is it clear whether the new Syrian administration has a plan to confront this escalation—whether diplomatically or militarily.