Key Points
- Israel has carried out 310 air strikes in Syria since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
- Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader met outgoing PM Mohammed al-Jalali to discuss a peaceful transfer.
- Israeli forces captured a buffer zone in the Golan Heights.
- The UN has said that Israeli Army’s activity in Golan heights buffer zone in Syria violates 1974 agreement
DAMASCUS: A monitor of Syria’s war said Tuesday it had recorded over 300 Israeli strikes since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has been able to document around 310 strikes” carried out by “Israeli warplanes” since the announcement of the fall of Assad on Sunday morning, the monitor said.
AFP cited the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying that the attacks targeted airports and warehouses, aircraft squadrons, radars, military signal stations, and multiple weapons and ammunition depots over the last 48 hours.
Israel, which borders Syria, sent forces into a buffer zone on the east of Golan Heights after Assad’s fall.
Near the port city of Latakia, Israel targeted an air defense facility and damaged Syrian naval ships as well as military warehouses, according to AFP.
In and around the capital Damascus, strikes targeted military installations, research centers, and the electronic warfare administration, western and Arab media reported.
Early Tuesday, AFP and Al-Jazeera journalists reported that they heard loud explosions in Damascus, hours after the strikes reported by the Observatory.
Israel Grabs Buffer Zone in Golan Heights
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he ordered Israeli forces to grab a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria.
Netanyahu said that the decades-old agreement had collapsed and that Syrian soldiers had abandoned their positions, necessitating the Israeli takeover.
The Golan Heights is a rocky plateau in southwestern Syria, about 60km (40 miles) south of Damascus. The United Nations recognises the region as a part of Syria.
Israeli Army’s activity in Golan Heights buffer zone in Syria violates 1974 Deal: UN
The UN has warned that Israeli military activity along the Golan Heights buffer zone in Syria “would constitute a violation” of a 1974 pact on disengagement between Syria and Israel.
“The peacekeepers at (the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, or UNDOF) informed the Israeli counterparts that these acts would constitute a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement, that there should be no military forces or activities in the area of separation,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Dujarric further said that UNDOF can also confirm that the Israeli military personnel “entered the area of separation and have been moving within that region where they remain in at least three locations throughout the area of separation.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader met outgoing PM Mohammed al-Jalali
The development takes place as Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, met with outgoing Syrian prime minister Mohammed al-Jalali and discussed the “transfer of power”, the group said Monday, a day after toppling Bashar al-Assad’s government.
READ ALSO: Syria’s HTS Chief Meets PM to Discuss Transfer of Power After Assad’s Ouster
Ahmed al-Sharaa, met Jalali “to coordinate a transfer of power that guarantees the provision of services” to Syria’s people, said a statement posted on the group’s Telegram channels, while a short video of the meeting showed it was also attended by Mohammed Bashir, who heads the “Salvation Government” in their northwest Syria stronghold.
The brief clip showed al-Sharaa telling al-Jalali that the government in Idlib gained experience and made major achievements over the past four years despite “starting from nothing”.
“Still, we will not dispense with the old situation. It is important that we benefit from their experience,” al-Sharaa said.
Jalali tells Al Arabiya TV that he has agreed to hand over power to the Idlib-based Syrian Salvation Government.
