More than 60 Israeli strikes targeted military sites across Syria in the space of a few hours, almost a week after an armed coalition overthrew Bashar al-Assad and seized Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Saturday.
The SOHR counted “61 strikes in less than five hours” on Saturday evening by Israel, which has stepped up its strikes on its neighbor since the fall of Assad, bringing to “446 the total number of air raids since December 8”, according to the NGO.
“Israel continues to intensify its airstrikes against Syrian territory, in particular to completely destroy tunnels under the mountains containing ballistic missile warehouses,” the SOHR added, noting that ‘fragmentation missiles’ had been used.
“These tunnels contained warehouses of ballistic missiles, ammunition, mortar shells and other military equipment”, according to the NGO, which is based in the UK but has an extensive network of sources inside Syria.
On Saturday evening, it also reported Israeli strikes against other weapons depots in the Qalamoun region, near Damascus, but also near Deraa and Soueida in the south.
Earlier, the SOHR had reported that a “scientific institute” and other military positions in Barzé, on the northeastern edge of Damascus, had been destroyed by Israeli strikes.
‘Exhausted’ country
They had also targeted a “military airport” on the outskirts of the city, according to the NGO, which added that these series of strikes against “former regime military sites” were aimed at “destroying what remains of the military capabilities of the next Syrian army”.
On Friday, the Israeli air force also targeted a “missile base on Mount Qassioun in Damascus”, added the SOHR, as well as an airport in the Soueida region and “research and defense laboratories in Masyaf”, in the province of Hama.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the army to “prepare to stay” throughout the winter in the buffer zone on the edge of the Israeli-occupied part of the Syrian Golan.
Israeli troops entered the buffer zone just after the fall of Assad. The UN denounced this as a “violation” of the 1974 disengagement agreement between Syria and Israel.
On Saturday, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of the Islamist-dominated coalition that took power in Syria and now goes by his real name, Ahmad al-Chareh, denounced the incursion.
He nevertheless asserted that his country was too “exhausted” by the war to engage in a new confrontation.
With AFP
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