Israeli military strikes Syrian cities of Damascus and Hama

Israeli warplanes have carried out strikes on the Syrian capital Damascus and the city of Hama. Syria said the strikes came near a research center in the capitalʼs Barzeh district and the airport in Hama.

This was reported by the IDF, the Syrian news agency SANA, and the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had struck "military potential" at Syrian military bases in the city of Hama, the T4 military airport near the city of Homs, and military infrastructure facilities in Damascus.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned Israeli airstrikes on five different areas of the country, saying they led to the complete destruction of the Hama military airport and the injury of dozens of civilians and soldiers, calling it an unjustified escalation.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the Israeli military carried out more than 500 airstrikes on targets in Syria between December 8 and 31, 2024, and at least 43 attacks this year.

The overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria

On December 8, 2024, the Syrian opposition entered the Syrian capital, Damascus, and overthrew the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who had been in power for 24 years. Assad himself fled to Moscow.

Syrian rebels formed a transitional government — headed by Muhammad Bashir, who led the "Salvation Government" — a political structure created in 2017 in territories controlled by the Syrian opposition, primarily in the province of Idlib.

The leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group, Ahmad al-Sharaa, became Syria’s new president in January 2025. He promised to form an inclusive transitional government that would “rule the country honestly” in the interests of all Syrians without exception and respect the rights of women and ethnic minorities. Then, al-Sharaa promised, the country would hold what he called free and fair elections. This transition period could last four years.

• At the end of March 2025, a transitional government was formed in Syria, which included 23 ministers.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.