Israel strikes Syria and troops reportedly make advances
Israel has carried out a wave of heavy airstrikes in Syria as its troops push deeper into the country, a Syrian war monitor said on December 10th according to AP.
AP reporters in Damascus heard heavy airstrikes overnight and into December 10th on the city and its suburbs, with photographs circulating online showing destroyed missile launchers, helicopters and warplanes.
The groups that have taken control of the country, led by Tahrir al-Sham or HTS, did not make any immediate comment. Bashar al-Assad was toppled as Syria’s ruler following an almost 14-year long civil war on December 8th.
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Following Assad’s fall, Israeli forces moved into a roughly 400-square-kilometer (155-square-mile) buffer zone inside Syria that had been established after the 1973 October war.
Tel Aviv has also said it is striking suspected chemical weapons sites and heavy weapons, but denied its forces were advancing toward the Syrian capital.
Israel has a long history of seizing and indefinitely occupying territory from neighbouring states. It captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 six-day war and annexed it in 1981, in a move recognised by no country but the US, which recognised it in 2019.
The U.N.’s Secretary-General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric sad Israel’s military has been observed inside Syria, claiming to be there to protecting the border between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
They stated that Israel’s invasion constitutes a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement and called on both Israel and Syria to uphold it.
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The UK -based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israel has carried out more than 300 airstrikes across the country since the overthrow of Assad.
The Observatory along with Lebanese news organisation Al Mayadeen, which has reporters in Syria, said Israeli troops are advancing up the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon and had come within 25km (15 miles) of Damascus, which the Israel denied.
Israeli’s invasion of Syrian territory has been condemned by Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, who have accused it of exploiting the situation in Syria and violating international law.
Turkey, the main regional backer of anti-Assad forces in Syria, also condemned Israel’s advance, with the Turkish foreign ministry accusing Israel of “displaying a mentality of an occupier” when the possibility of peace and stability had emerged in Syria.
AP
