No quiet on the northern front: IDF strikes Hezbollah launchers & Syrian weapon factories

With the most serious attacks on Israel in recent weeks originating from the Houthi terror group in Yemen, the northern front has seemingly quieted down.

However, despite appearances, the IDF continues to closely observe the threats – and to strike hard when the need arises. During a visit to the Syrian border on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar stated, “We don’t know how and when the situation in Syria will stabilize.”

He stressed, “The activity of our forces at the border is important for the protection of our settlements and for preventing hostile elements from establishing themselves near the border.”

Late on Thursday, Israeli airstrikes reportedly hit weapons factories near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, according to Syrian media. The IDF has not yet commented on the report.

In what is apparently the latest in a series of strikes intended to systematically destroy all advanced weaponry across Syria, the alleged Israeli strikes destroyed a weapons factory belonging to the former Syrian army and a facility of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS), near the town al-Safira.

CERS was the regime’s main institution for developing advanced weapons, including precision-guided missiles and chemical weapons. In recent years, it was partly taken over by Iranian IRGC operatives and Hezbollah personnel.

Another CERS facility was destroyed by the IDF in a secret commando raid last September.

A resident of the area told AFP, “They hit defense factories, five strikes… The strikes were very strong. It made the ground shake, doors and windows opened – the strongest strikes I ever heard… It turned the night into day.”

While the IDF so far has not commented on the reports from Syria, it said that other strikes around the same time destroyed several medium-range rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו והשמידו לפני זמן קצר, בהכוונה מודיעינית של אמ״ן, משגרי רקטות לטווח בינוני שהיו בשימוש ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה, באתר צבאי של הארגון. כמו כן, בסמוך לאתר צבאי נוסף הותקפו משגרי רקטות של הארגון במרחב נבטיה>> pic.twitter.com/0yPWZO27dB

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 2, 2025

“Also, near another military site, rocket launchers of the organization were attacked in the Nabatiyeh area,” the IDF stated. “As part of the enforcement of the agreements between Israel and Lebanon, before the strike, a request was sent to the Lebanese army to neutralize the launchers that posed a threat to the Israeli rear and our forces.”

The IDF emphasized that the targets were struck only after the request had not been answered by the Lebanese army.

“The IDF continues to act in order to remove any threat to the State of Israel, in accordance with the understandings of the cease-fire agreement,” the military added.

As Israeli troops gradually withdraw from southern Lebanon, soldiers stationed on both sides of the Golan Heights are preparing to spend the winter guarding forward positions established in the wake of the Syrian Assad regime's collapse, which created a power vacuum in southern Syria.

Sa’ar visited soldiers from the Paratrooper Brigade stationed in the area before paying a rare visit to the headquarters of UNDOF, the peacekeeping force responsible for monitoring the demilitarized zone created by the 1974 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Syria, and which has now been taken over by the IDF.

“It's good to see things from the field. I saw the activity of IDF soldiers here today, a very important activity on the Syrian border,” Sa’ar said.

“First of all to prevent the formation of a threat to the settlements in the Golan Heights, but also to prevent the establishment of hostile elements near our border, in a situation that is very dynamic and we do not yet know how it will stabilize and when it will stabilize. That is why the activity is very important.”

“I also visited the UNDOF headquarters. I heard praise there for the cooperation with the State of Israel in general and with the IDF in particular. And I also learned about their concept of operations since the Separation of Forces Agreement from 1974 until today,” Sa’ar added.

The capture of the demilitarized zone by the IDF was preceded by an incident where armed rebels attacked a UNDOF position in the Syrian Golan.

The IDF helped the force repel the attack and was ordered to create a buffer zone in Syrian territory shortly after.