Israeli operations continue during Syria's security negotiations
Israeli artillery fire near Beit Jinn and a raid in Quneitra were reported while US-mediated talks remained unresolved. Damascus says the talks seek to stop attacks inside Syria. The same security order includes the SDF's integration and a new arrangement for Russian bases. These accounts establish overlap in time, not cause: the military activity may reflect calculations outside those negotiations.
Geopolitics··Morning
Israeli forces return to southern Syria
Israeli artillery shelled a hill near Beit Jinn in the western Damascus countryside late on Wednesday, according to Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Syrian capital. Israeli forces also raided a house in Quneitra province. The operations came as US-mediated discussions were seeking an end to Israeli strikes inside Syria. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country and moved troops into a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights since Bashar al-Assad fell in December 2024. The latest report did not identify an agreement that authorised or ended the new operations.[1]
The talks sought an end to attacks and arrests
Days earlier, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met Israeli intelligence officials in Jordan in talks mediated by the United States. Damascus described that channel as an effort to stop Israeli attacks, arrests and targeting operations in Syria. The new shelling and raid were reported before those discussions produced a publicly announced outcome. An analyst at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies told Al Jazeera that he did not expect a breakthrough. That assessment remains the analyst's view. The timing establishes that military activity continued during the diplomatic channel, but the report does not establish why Israel continued it.[1]
Damascus absorbs the SDF and recasts Russian bases
Syria's security structure is also changing inside the country and along its Mediterranean coast. SDF commander Mazloum Abdi announced the Kurdish-led force's dissolution and integration into the Syrian armed forces; AK Party spokesperson Omer Celik called the move an important threshold for Syria's unity. In a separate call, Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed the August 9 memorandum reorganising Russia's Khmeimim airbase and Tartous support facility. These arrangements form part of the security order Damascus was discussing when the Israeli operations were reported, but none of the sources says the SDF or bases arrangement caused the shelling. Israel may have acted on military calculations independent of both files.[1], [2], [3]
