TEHRAN — Israeli armor and heavy artillery have locked the approach to Damascus into a steady rhythm of bombardment.

For three consecutive days, artillery shells have hit the agricultural slopes around Beit Jinn, pounding farmland, Bat al-Warda Hill, and the outskirts of nearby villages.

On Sunday, seven shells struck Harboun Hill. Farther south in Quneitra province, an armored column featuring three tanks, twelve military vehicles, and over ten armored personnel carriers advanced into Tal Ahmar, sweeping through houses in Ain al-Nouriyah before establishing positions along the ridge.

These actions are part of a systematic campaign. Since the collapse of the previous Syrian government in December 2024, Israeli forces have launched at least 70 documented ground assaults and airstrikes across southern Syria.

The Israeli military has set up ten permanent positions deep inside territory designated as a demilitarized buffer under the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

Night raids in western Daraa and Quneitra have turned into routine operations. In recent days, Israeli units entered al-Hamidiyah and al-Rafid, seizing civilians, including a man and his son, and taking them across the border into occupied territory.

United Nations observers have recorded 49 such detentions of Syrian citizens since the escalation began.

The physical landscape of the frontier is being altered by force.

Israeli units operating east of Beit Jinn have deployed heavy bulldozers alongside tanks, clearing farmlands and erecting earth berms to link forward outposts.

In Maariya, heavy machine-gun fire from armored vehicles regularly sweeps through residential streets while reconnaissance drones circle overhead. The pattern indicates an intent to transform temporary incursions into a permanent security zone.

Inside the Israeli military establishment, appetite for further expansion is reportedly growing. Officers in the 210th Division have expressed impatience with limited containment operations along the border.

Ground incursions, however, have already met fierce popular opposition. When occupation forces stormed Beit Jinn last November, local residents confronted the raid head-on, injuring six invading soldiers and forcing Tel Aviv to resort to warplanes, unleashing heavy airstrikes that martyred 13 villagers in an act of brutal collective punishment.

In Damascus, Ahmad “al-Jolani” al-Sharaa’s government has demanded an immediate, total withdrawal of Israeli troops to the 1974 lines.

While foreign-mediated “security negotiations” dragged on for months, Damascus has maintained that no treaty will legitimize Israeli outposts or relinquish Syria’s sovereign claim to the Golan Heights.

Statements from the United Nations and the French foreign ministry have condemned the incursions as direct violations of international law, but without enforcement mechanisms, armored patrols continue to push deeper into Syrian territory every week.