Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Several waves of Israeli strikes hit southern Syria over the night of March 10 and 11, targeting bases and equipment of the former Syrian Arab Army.
At least nine strikes hit the 89th Artillery Regiment base, destroying observation platforms and tanks, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which added that another eight strikes targeted the 12th Brigade base. Both positions are located in the countryside of Daraa governorate.
The London-based monitoring group later reported that four more strikes hit the 90th Brigade base in the countryside of al-Qunitra, where a tank battalion and other heavy weapons were destroyed.
Later overnight, the strikes expanded to the governorate of Rif Dimashq with multiple military sites being targeted, including the 68th Regiment base.
Following the fall of the Assad regime last December, Israeli troops invaded the buffer zone adjacent to the occupied Golan Heights in the southern Syrian governorate of al-Qunitra. The IDF also launched hundreds of strikes destroying much of the country’s military capabilities.
The IDF has described its presence in southern Syria’s buffer zone as a temporary and defensive measure. Nevertheless, Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that troops will remain deployed to strategic nine army posts in the area “indefinitely.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that southern Syria must be completely demilitarized, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of the forces of Syria’s Islamist government near its territory.
The latest Israeli strikes on southern Syria came amid a bloody escalation on the country’s coast, where more than 1,000 civilians from the Alawite minority -which former President Bashar al-Assad belongs to- have been killed so far by government forces.
Israel slammed the massacres. However, it has so far ignored calls from some Alawites activists to intervene against government forces.
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