Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Tuesday that his country was working toward a “diplomatic solution” with Israel, with US mediation, despite ongoing Israeli strikes in the country.

The two countries have been in a constant state of war since the establishment of Israel in 1948.

Israel has launched numerous strikes in Syria since the current Islamist authorities’ forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, often saying they are necessary to stop military hardware falling into the hands of hostile elements amid the regime change. The latest came last month, when the Israeli Air Force struck a disused Syrian military airport, saying Turkey was planning to deploy forces there and Damascus had ignored Jerusalem’s warnings on the matter. Ankara denied the Israeli allegations.

In addition, Israel has sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights since 1974. Israel has also carried out repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory and has vowed to keep troops in a “security zone” in southern Syria, where it seeks a broader demilitarized area.

“The attacks are still ongoing. We observed 65 incursions in July alone, and 52 in the first 18 days of August,” Shaibani told a press conference with his visiting Danish counterpart, Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

He slammed a “campaign of raids on homes in Quneitra province and the Damascus countryside,” and said Syria has registered 147 cases of........

© The Times of Israel