In 2013 the Lebanese Shia militant group, Hezbollah, became entrenched in the Syrian Civil War and was vital in securing Bashar Al-Assad's regime, which was on the verge of collapse as Sunni rebels approached the center of Syrian government in Damascus. Since 2001, Israel has also increasingly operated in Syria. Israel sees Syria as another front to Iran's "Axis of Resistance" with Hezbollah, Hezbollah's international affiliates, Iraqi Shia militias, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) all opposing Israel from Syria. Furthermore, Israel has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights and Lebanese Shebaa Farms since the 1967 war, leading to consistent tensions between Syria and Israel. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Israel has increased strikes on Syrian and Hezbollah positions, but have also carried out ground operations in the occupied Golan Heights and in sovereign Syrian territory itself.

Prior to the Wars in Lebanon and Gaza

Israel conducted its first attack against the current administration of Bashar Al-Assad in 2001 after a Hezbollah attack on an IDF position in the Israeli controlled Shebaa Farms. Israel has since conducted tens of dozens of airstrikes and raids on Syrian soil for a variety of reasons. This includes targeting Syria's supposed nuclear research facilities, Palestinian militant training camps, and striking Hezbollah and IRGC positions and weapons depots. Beginning in 2013, two years after the start of the Syrian Civil War, Hezbollah came to the side of Bashar Al-Assad's regime. The civil war began in 2011 during the Arab Spring, and initially sought to overthrow Assad with a democratic government. Unfortunately, the civil war fell into sectarianism; fought between the countries majority Sunni population against  the Government comprised of the minority Shia population, mostly Al-Assad's Alawite ethnoreligious group, who follow a Shia branch called Alawism. Alongside Hezbollah's intervention came another ally to the Syrian regime, Iran. Iran initially became involved to bolster Assad's government but also wished to counter Saudi Arabian power in the Muslim world, spreading its version of Shia Islam. Through this effort Iran began to steadily grow a vast network of militias; not only in Syria but also Iraq. After the suppression and splintering of the major opposition factions, Syria quickly gained the upper hand after 2015.

Syria has since recaptured most of the country outside of Idlib Province, home to the salafist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and the northern border of Syria now controlled by either the Turkish backed Syrian National Army (SNA) or the Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Since 2023, the civil war has largely stalemated, giving the SAA and the Syrian government the ability to solidify control. This has subsequently allowed Iran to provide more sophisticated missile and guidance systems to Hezbollah forces in Lebanon which could then be produced in weapons factories on Lebanese territory. From April of 2022 to April of 2023 (prior to the ongoing Gaza and Lebanon War); Israel launched over 20 airstrikes on different areas of Syria. These strikes primarily targeted IRGC officers and arms depots in airports and military bases surrounding Damascus and Aleppo. Many of which are funneled to Hezbollah in Lebanon through Iranian and Russian protection. In these strikes over 40 were killed and 50 injured, including IRGC military advisors.

Israeli Airstrikes on Syria

Since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza on October 7, 2023; Iranian backed militias have carried out rocket and drone attacks against US forces in the middle east from launch points in Iraq and Syria. These strikes culminated with the deaths of 3 US service members on the Tower-22 drone base in Jordan which is located on the border with Syria. In response the US launched airstrikes on 85 targets in both Syria and Iraq. Iranian backed groups have also continuously fired drones and rockets at Israeli infrastructure, such as ports, factories, and military facilities. Furthermore, Israel has increased its effort to stifle Iranian weapon shipments to Hezbollah as well as Iranian influence in Syria, particularly IRGC-QF (Quds Force) operatives and IRGC military advisors.  This includes residential areas of Damascus where Iran and Hezbollah are suspected of having intelligence and security headquarters as well as  supposed Iranian logistics sites which are used to house weapons that will eventually be transferred to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A few of these strikes have targeted and killed high ranking leadership of Iran's presence in Syria. In one such strike in April of 2024, Israel struck the Iranian consulate in Damascus. According to Iranian officials, "two generals and five officers" were killed in the strike. This follows a strike in December of 2024 when an IRGC advisor was killed in Damascus and a strike in January that killed five IRGC advisors in Deir-ez Zor province, located in the far east of Syria. According to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR), which is an anti-assad monitoring group, over 100 Iranian personnel have been killed in Syria since the beginning of 2024. On November 20th, 2024; Israel conducted one of its most lethal airstrikes. It is believed that members of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq umbrella were meeting with Lebanese Hezbollah officials in Palmyra. Syrian state media has claimed that 36 people were killed and over 50 were injured. The SOHR has countered this stating, "92 dead: 61 Syrian pro-Iran fighters, 11 of them working for Hezbollah, and 27 foreign nationals. The 27 foreign nationals most likely belonging to Al-Nujaba, plus four from Hezbollah."

Israeli Ground Operations

Accompanying increased airstrikes Israel has also escalated its ground operations in the occupied Golan Heights and within Syria itself marking a drastic increase in escalatory actions.  It was reported in early November that an Israeli special forces raid took place in July in the southern Syrian town of Saida, just northeast of Daraa. They reportedly were monitoring a Syrian man named Ali Sulieman al-Asi for several months who had been collecting intelligence for Iran on Israeli movements on the border of the Golan Heights and Syria, for "future terrorist actions". In September Israel once again launched a raid in Syria, this time targeting a "Hezbollah missile production facility" in the town of Masyaf nearly 25 miles into Syria. 18 militants were killed in the raid and a further dozen were wounded. Although a boots on the ground raid in Syria is quite unusual and is a marked escalation by Israel in Israeli-Syrian affairs (which are already non-existent), there was reported to be no pushback by the United States after Israel warned them about the operation. This raises the question of just how much the US is willing to let tensions rise between Israel and Syria. However, both Israel and the US may assess that Assad is more likely to focus on retaining power in the still stagnant civil war rather than trying to confront a much stronger and better organized IDF.

Israel has also recently escalated actions in the Golan Heights, which according to International law, Israel has been illegally occupying since the 1967 war. These recent actions have been seen as "severe ceasefire violations" by the UN as Israel has begun construction in the "buffer zone" of the Golan Heights. Since July, Israel has been building an earthen berm and trench using bulldozers and other equipment nearly five miles long in the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria that is patrolled by the UN. In addition Israel had tanks and IDF soldiers accompany said bulldozers, all of which violates the 1974 disengagement agreement, the formal ceasefire signed between the Israel and Syria. As of writing, this building continues as Israel claims it is meant to stop a "Hezbollah invasion" (similar to the Hamas Oct. 7 attacks) from Syria at the objection of both UN peacekeepers and the Syrian state.