Israel says it is ‘striking military targets’ in southern Syria; two civilians killed
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An Israeli tank seen on the Golan Heights on March 17. Israel has deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
JERUSALEM – Israel’s military said on March 17 it was striking military sites in southern Syria, as the Syrian state media reported two people being killed in an Israeli strike near the southern city of Daraa.
“The IDF (military) is currently striking military targets in southern Syria, including command centres and military sites containing weapons and military vehicles belonging to the old Syrian regime,” an Israeli army statement said.
“The presence of military assets in southern Syria poses a threat to the State of Israel,” it said, adding the military “will not allow the presence of military threats in southern Syria and will operate against it”.
Syrian state news agency Sana reported that “two civilians died and 19 others were injured in Israeli air strikes on the outskirts of Daraa city”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Israel targeted a military site once belonging to ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s army but now used by the forces of Syria’s new authorities.
Since the ousting of the then Syrian president in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria and deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the strategic Golan Heights.
Even before Dr Assad’s fall, during the Syrian civil war that broke out in 2011, Israel carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly on government forces and Iranian-linked targets. AFP
