Israel stepped up airstrikes on Syria overnight, threatening that the attacks were a warning to the new rulers in Damascus and accused their ally Turkey on Thursday of trying to turn the country into a Turkish protectorate.
The strikes, targeting air bases, a site near Damascus and the southwest, put renewed focus on Israeli designs about the new regime. Also suspicious of Ankara's sway over Damascus, Israel had been working to advance its goals in Syria since Assad was toppled in December.
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 that Israeli shelling had killed nine people in the area, during what it described as the deepest incursion yet by Israeli troops in the area. Later on Thursday, Israeli strikes targeted the town of Kiswah south of Damascus, according to SANA.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that 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".
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. It added that the strikes were an unjustified escalation aimed at destablising the country.
In Hama, a Syrian military source told Reuters a dozen strikes demolished the runways, tower, arms depots and hangars at the military airport.
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