Israel has carried out a wave of airstrikes around Syria, claiming to have destroyed the country’s naval fleet and deployed troops beyond a demilitarized buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The defence minister, Israel Katz, said Israeli forces had been ordered to create a “sterile defence zone” in southern Syria. He gave no details, other than to say it would not have a permanent Israeli presence. He added the zone, would “prevent the establishment and organization of terror in Syria”.
“We will not allow this, we will not allow threats to the state of Israel,” he said in a statement following a visit to a naval base in the northern Israeli port of Haifa.
Israeli jets have struck a string of targets across Syria since the weekend, aiming to ensure Syrian military equipment, including combat aircraft, missiles and chemical weapons, does not fall into rebel hands. As part of the wave of strikes, Mr Katz said Israeli missile ships had destroyed the Syrian military fleet in an operation on Monday night.
Video showing the smoking wreckage of what appeared to be small Syrian naval ships in the port at Latakia was broadcast by Saudi-owned television station Al-Hadath on Tuesday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has closely tracked the conflict since the civil war erupted in 2011, said Israel targeted Syrian warships, military warehouses and an air-defence facility on the coast.
Israeli media reported that the air force had carried out as many as 250 strikes. Heavy airstrikes were heard in the Syrian capital of Damascus overnight, with images showing destroyed vehicles and weaponry strewn across the floor.
Earlier, a military spokesperson said Israeli troops remained in the demilitarised buffer zone in Syrian territory created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war – as well as “a few additional points” outside the separation area. But Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani denied that forces had penetrated Syrian territory significantly beyond the zone, after Syrian sources said the incursion had extended to within 25 km (15 miles) of the capital Damascus.
“[Israeli] forces are not advancing towards Damascus. This is not something we are doing or pursuing in any way,” Lieutenant Colonel Shoshani, the military spokesperson, told a briefing with reporters.
“We are not involved in what’s happening in Syria internally, we are not a side in this conflict and we do not have any interest other than protecting our borders and the security of our citizens,” he added.
Turkey, Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have condemned Israel’s incursion, accusing it of exploiting the disarray in Syria and violating international law.
“The assaults carried out by the Israeli occupation government, including the seizure of the buffer zone in the Golan Heights, and the targeting of Syrian territory confirm Israel’s continued violation of the principles of international law and its determination to sabotage Syria’s chances of restoring its security, stability and territorial integrity,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.
The UN’s special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, has condemned the Israeli airstrikes and ground invasion, describing Israel’s actions as a “violation of the disengagement agreement from 1974”, adding that peacekeepers in the Golan Heights are in “daily contact” with the Israelis.
But Israel told the UN Security Council that its seizure of the 400-square-kilometre (155-square-mile) demilitarised buffer zone in the Gplan Heights over the weekend is a “limited and temporary” measure which is only designed to ensure its security.
Foreign minister Gideon Saar said: “The only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens. That’s why we attacked strategic weapons systems, like, for example, remaining chemical weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists.”
The US and Turkey have also struck Syria since Assad’s regime was overthrown, as regional actors seek to protect their interests in the region. The US unleashed 75 drones on Islamic State targets on Sunday, while Turkey fired at US-backed Kurdish forces in the northeast of the country.
The rebel groups who led the lightning offensive against the Assad regime have not yet spoken out on Israeli, US and Turkish military action.