Syria says deadly Israeli strikes a 'blatant violation'

Syria on Thursday condemned deadly Israeli strikes across the country as a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty, after Israel said it struck "military capabilities."

Syrian state media said the strikes hit close to a defence research centre in Damascus, among other sites, while a war monitor reported four dead in the latest Israeli attack on Syria since Islamist-led forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

"In a blatant violation of international law and Syrian sovereignty, Israeli forces launched airstrikes on five locations across the country," the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

"This unjustified escalation is a deliberate attempt to destabilise Syria and exacerbate the suffering of its people."

It said the strikes resulted in the "near-total destruction" of a military airport in central Syrian province Hama, injuring dozens of civilians and soldiers.

Syria's SANA news agency reported a strike that "targeted the vicinity of the scientific research building" in Damascus's northern Barzeh neighbourhood and a strike in the vicinity of Hama, without specifying what was hit.

The Israeli military said in a statement that forces "struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian bases of Hama and T4, along with additional remaining military infrastructure sites in the area of Damascus."

Israel has said it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities, whom it considers jihadists.

The Syrian ministry said the strikes came as the country was trying to rebuild after 14 years of war, calling it a strategy to "normalize violence within the country."

Last month, Israel said it struck the T4 military base in central Homs province twice, targeting military capabilities at the site.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that "four people were killed and others wounded, including Syrian defence ministry personnel, in the strikes on Hama military airport."

Buffer zone

The monitor said those strikes, which targeted "remaining planes, runways and towers, put the airport completely out of service," also reported that the Damascus strikes targeted the research centre in Barzeh.

In the days after Assad's fall on Dec. 8, the Britain-based Observatory reported Israeli strikes targeting the center.

Western countries, including the United States, had previously struck the defense ministry facility in 2018, saying it was related to Syria's "chemical weapons infrastructure."

Also since Assad's fall, Israel has deployed troops to a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone on the strategic Golan Heights and called for the complete demilitarisation of southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-annexed Golan.

Authorities in south Syria's Daraa on Telegram late Wednesday said that several Israeli military vehicles entered an area in the province's west, reporting that "three [Israeli] artillery shells" targeted the area.

The provincial government in southern Syria's Daraa said nine civilians were killed and several injured in Israeli bombardment following an "Israeli incursion".

The shelling near the city of Nawa came after an "Israeli incursion, with "the occupation forces advancing for the first time to this depth," it said in a statement posted to Telegram.

The Israeli military said Thursday it had responded to fire from gunmen during an operation in southern Syria, adding that it had fired at and "eliminated" several fighters in ground and air strikes.

"The presence of weapons in southern Syria poses a threat to the State of Israel," a military spokesperson said, adding that the army would "not allow the existence of a military threat in Syria and will act against it."

The Observatory has reported repeated Israeli military incursions into southern Syria beyond the demarcation line in recent months.

Last month, during a visit to Jerusalem, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that Israeli strikes on Syria were "unnecessary" and threatened to worsen the situation.