Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Israeli special forces landed from helicopters and raided a sensitive military base to the south of Damascus, just a few kilometers away from a ceremony attended by Syrian Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The raid began late on August 27, but a report by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said that the events at the base, a large complex with a network of tunnels on Mount Manea that lies some thirteen kilometers to the south of Damascus, began a day earlier.
The state-run news agency reported that a force of the new Syrian military was conducting a patrol around the base on August 26 when it uncovered “surveillance and eavesdropping” devices. While attempting to remove the devices, Israeli drone strikes hit the patrol, according to the agency.
Six troops, including a field commander, were reportedly killed in the strikes. They were all serving in the ranks of the 44th Division. The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes at the time.
“Airstrikes and drone attacks continued to prevent access to the area until the evening of August 27. Meanwhile, army units destroyed some of the devices using appropriate weapons and retrieved the bodies of the martyrs,” SANA said.
It was at this point that Israeli special forces landed at the base following a wave of heavy airstrikes, according to SANA and a separate report from Al-Jazeera.
Notably, the landing began as Sharaa was attending the opening ceremony of Damascus International Fair 2025, just ten kilometers to the northwest of Mount Manea.
According to Al-Jazeera, dozens of Israeli special forces operators with “research equipment” landed from four helicopters in Mount Manea.
The Syrian military didn’t clash with the special forces, which operated at the base for around two hours before withdrawing, the Qatari-owned news channel said early on August 28.
Following reports of the raid, Defense Minister Israel Katz declared on X that Israeli forces “are operating on all battle fronts day and night for the security of Israel.”
Sources from the former Syrian military told SouthFront that Mount Manea features an extensive network of tunnels which were mainly used for the storage of surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, with multiple launch shafts.
The Israeli Air Force bombarded the base on multiple occasions before and after the fall of the regime of former President Bahsar al-Assad, but the sources said that the depth of some of the tunnels makes it impossible to completely destroy them from air.
Israeli special forces raided a missile production facility located in a much smaller underground base near the town of Masyaf in western Syria exactly three months before the fall of the Assad regime on December 8. Later, Israel would say the raid, codenamed “Operation Deep Layer,” was carried out partly because airstrikes failed to destroy the base.
A recent report by SouthFront revealed that the Masyaf raid dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Syrian military and directly contributed to its collapse.
The situation is now very different. Israel and Syria are now engaged in “advanced” talks on easing tensions in southern Syria, with Damascus seeking a security agreement that could open the door to wider political negotiations.
According to Hebrew media reports earlier this week, the two countries, with help from the United States, are closing in on understandings, and the deal in discussion would be based on the disengagement lines that the two sides agreed to in 1974 after the Yom Kippur War a year earlier. Syria will reportedly be barred from rebuilding its military as a part of the understanding.
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nice hasbara
syrian j3wliani is weak and p4thetic t3rro1st boi thats cucked by 1srahell.
the jooz do like to humiliate their puppets, don’t they.