Israel says 'striking military targets' in southern Syria
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JERUSALEM: Israel's military said on Monday (Mar 17) it was striking military sites in southern Syria, as Syrian state media reported two 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 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 airstrikes 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 president Bashar al-Assad 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 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.
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