Damascus, July 15: Israeli warplanes have carried out airstrikes against a number of installations once belonging to the ousted president Bashar al-Assad's army but now used by the forces of the ruling Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) regime in the southwestern province of Suweida.
Local media outlets reported that two aerial raids struck sites near the town of al-Mazraa late on Monday.
Informed sources said sounds of explosions were also heard in the vicinity of Kanaker town.
Material damage was reported, but no information was yet available about possible casualties.
The Israeli military later asserted in a statement that it hit several tanks in the area between al Mazraa and Sami’ as they moved towards Suweida in southern Syria.
It claimed that the strikes were aimed at “preventing their arrival to the area.”
“The Israeli army will not allow the establishment of a military threat in southern Syria and will operate against it,” it said.
Early on Monday, HTS forces initiated an offensive in Suweida following fatal confrontations between Druze and Bedouin factions, resulting in the deaths of dozens of individuals and injuries to hundreds of others.
At least 99 people have been killed and around 200 others wounded over the past two days in the Suweida province, as clashes escalate between local Druze fighters, Bedouin tribes, and HTS forces, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
According to the Britain-based monitoring group, the fatalities include 60 from the Druze community – among them two women and two children – 18 from Bedouin tribes, 14 from HTS fighters, and seven unidentified individuals wearing military uniforms.
Since the collapse of Assad’s government, the Israeli military has been launching airstrikes against military installations, facilities, and arsenals belonging to Syria’s now-defunct army.
Israel has been widely condemned for the termination of the 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria and for exploiting the chaos in the Arab nation in the wake of Assad’s downfall to make a land grab.
The United Nations has condemned ongoing Israeli attacks inside Syrian territory and repeated violations in and around the buffer zone created as part of a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Damascus.
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