INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Israel stepped up airstrikes on Syria, declaring the attacks a warning to the new Islamist rulers in Damascus as it accused their ally
Turkey on Thursday of trying to turn the country into a Turkish protectorate.
Later on Thursday, Turkey said Israel must withdraw from
Syria and stop harming stabilization efforts there, Reuters reported.
Israel has become the greatest threat to regional security& and is a
&strategic destabilizer, causing chaos and feeding terrorism,& the Foreign Ministry in Ankara said.
Therefore, in order to establish
security throughout the region, Israel must first abandon its expansionist policies, withdraw from the territories it occupies, and stop
undermining efforts to establish stability in Syria,& it said.
The strikes, targeting a site near Damascus and air bases, put renewed focus
on Israeli concerns about the Islamists who deposed Bashar al-Assad in December, with Israeli officials viewing them as a rising threat at
their border.
Also suspicious of Ankara's sway over Damascus, Israel has been working to advance its goals in Syria since Assad was
toppled, seizing ground in the southwest, declaring a willingness to protect the Druze minority, lobbying Washington for a weak state, and
blowing up much of the Syrian military's heavy weapons and equipment in the days after Assad fell.
The Israeli army said its forces
operating in the southwest overnight killed several militants who opened fire on them
They were on a targeted mission at the time beyond the separation zone where they are deployed inside Syria, it said.
Syria's state news
agency SANA said Israeli shelling had killed nine people in the area, during what it described as the deepest incursion yet by Israeli
troops in the area.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the airstrikes late on Wednesday evening were &a clear message and a warning
for the future & we will not allow the security of the State of Israel to be harmed.&
Katz said in a statement that Israel's armed forces
would remain in buffer zones within Syria and act against threats to its security, warning Syria's government it would pay a heavy price
if it allowed forces hostile to Israel to enter.
Reflecting Israeli concerns about Turkish influence in the new Syria, Foreign Minister
Gideon Saar accused Ankara of playing a &negative role& there, in Lebanon and other regions.
They are doing their utmost to have Syria as a
It's clear that is their intention,& he told a press conference in Paris.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the Israeli strikes were an
unjustified escalation aimed at destabilising the country, calling on the international community to put pressure on Israel to &stop its
aggression.&
Later on Thursday, Israeli strikes targeted the town of Kiswah, south of Damascus, according to Syria's state news agency
There were no immediate reports of casualties and no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel bombed Syria frequently when the
country was governed by Assad, targeting the foothold established by his ally Iran during the civil war.
AIR BASE DESTROYED
The latest
strikes were some of the most intense Israeli attacks in Syria since Assad was toppled.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Israel struck five
separate areas within a 30-minute window, resulting in the near-complete destruction of the Hama air base and wounding dozens of civilians
and soldiers.
The Israeli military said it had struck remaining military capabilities at air bases in Hama and Homs provinces, in addition
to remaining military infrastructure in the Damascus area, where Syrian media and officials said the vicinity of a scientific research
facility was hit.
In Hama, a Syrian military source told Reuters a dozen strikes demolished the runways, tower, arms depots and hangars at
&Israel has completely destroyed Hama air base to ensure it is not used,& the source said.
Israel also said on Wednesday it targeted the T4
air base in Homs province, which it has repeatedly hit over the past week.
In the incident in southwestern Syria, the Israeli military said
its forces were operating in the Tasil area, &confiscating weapons and destroying terrorist infrastructure& when several militants fired on
them.
Residents of the Tasil area reached by phone said a group of armed locals were killed after confronting an Israeli army contingent
that had arrived in the area to destroy a former Syrian army encampment.
The Israeli military said there were no casualties among its
forces who &responded with fire and eliminated several armed terrorists from the ground and air.&
The presence of weapons in southern Syria
constitutes a threat to the State of Israel,& it said
&The IDF will not allow a military threat to exist in Syria and will act against it.&
The post Israel steps up Syria strikes, says Turkey
aims for ‘protectorate' first appeared on TINS News.
