DAMASCUS – Syrian state media reported multiple Israeli air strikes in the southern province of Daraa on Monday night.
Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria.
“The Israeli occupation aircraft carried out several strikes on the surroundings of the towns of Jbab and Izraa in the north of Daraa,” the state news agency SANA said.
Most Israeli strikes since Assad’s fall have targeted facilities and weapons held by the toppled government’s forces in what Israel has said was a bid to prevent the assets from falling into hostile hands.
According to the Syrian observatory, Israeli aircrafts carried out 17 strikes on Monday night, targeting several positions of the former Syrian army, including an observation platform and tanks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, warning that his government would not accept the presence of the forces of the new Islamist-led government near its territory.
The same day Assad was ousted, Israel announced that its troops were entering a UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.
AN-AFP, 10 March 2025
