The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, confirmed the strikes in southern Syria and warned that Israel “will not allow southern Syria to become southern Lebanon”.
However, Israel also views Syria’s new rulers with suspicion, with Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, on Monday calling the new rulers of Syria a “jihadist, Islamist terror group”.
Israeli warplanes have carried out several airstrikes on military targets outside Damascus and in southern Syria, as Israeli officials warned the country’s army not to move south of the capital city.
Shortly after a Syrian rebel offensive led by Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham toppled the Assad regime on 8 December, Israeli forces entered the UN buffer zone between Israel and Syria.
Military sites hit as Israeli defence minister says they ‘will not allow southern Syria to become southern Lebanon’.
