Israel launches 500 airstrikes , drops 1800 bombs on Syria

In just a few hours, Tel Aviv destroyed Syrian air defense systems and dropped 1,800 bombs on more than 500 targets in Syria, Almayadeen reported quoting Zionist sources.

Syrian media reported that the Zionist regime has targeted Mount Qassion, a mountain overlooking the city of Damascus, Syria.

Israeli forces have advanced further into southern Syria after their ground troops moved deeper into the Syrian Golan Heights, effectively expanding their occupation.

Sources said Israeli soldiers entered the town of al-Hurriya in Quneitra province on Thursday as part of the regime’s unprecedented onslaught on Syria following President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, according to Press TV.

Local sources said Israeli forces also carried out a forced evacuation of the residents of the village of Rasem al-Ruwadi in the region.

Israeli occupying forces on Wednesday evening stormed the towns of Ruwaihinah and Umm Batna in the central countryside of Quneitra as well.

Residents of the town said the occupying regime forces asked them to evacuate their homes to annex them to the so-called buffer zones. The incursion involved tanks and infantry units, during which several houses were searched.

It came after Israeli minister of military affairs Israel Katz said the regime is planning a “sterile defense zone” in southern Syria in violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement between the two sides.

Community leaders and residents of Quneitra have refused to evacuate their villages. They have collectively decided to remain in their homes in the face of Israeli advances.

Since the fall of President Assad, the Israeli regime has carried out almost 500 airstrikes across Syria, targeting critical civilian and military infrastructures

Several regional nations have denounced the Israeli aggression, reaffirming their commitment to protect the Arab country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On Thursday, a UN source said Israeli troops were obstructing the work of UN peacekeepers in the occupied Golan Heights

He explained that the Israeli army has transferred forces to the area, restricting the movement of peacekeeping forces significantly and hindering their operational tasks.

After the fall of President Assad at the weekend, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the cancellation of the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria.

He ordered the deployment of Israeli forces in the buffer zone in the Golan, which separates the occupied part of the heights from the rest of Syrian territory.

Netanyahu also said the Golan Heights, an area Israel captured during the 1967 war with Syria and has occupied ever since, would be “forever part of Israel”, thanking US President-elect Donald Trump once again for supporting the regime’s occupation in 2019.

The United Nations and most of the international community recognize the Golan as part of Syria.

The Israeli prime minister has noted that he had promised on October 9, 2023 to “change the face of the Middle East”.

Israeli soldiers have reportedly taken positions 10 km beyond the buffer zone in the town of Qatana, just 25 km from the Syrian capital.

MNA/6315676/