Israel carried out a wave of heavy airstrikes across Syria as its troops advanced deeper into the country, drawing to within 15 miles of the capital, a Syrian opposition war monitor said on Tuesday.
Associated Press reporters in Damascus heard heavy airstrikes overnight and into Tuesday on the city and its suburbs.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Israel’s military destroyed Syria’s fleet overnight and intends to establish a demilitarised zone “in southern Syria” to prevent attacks on Israel.
He also issued a warning to Syria’s rebels, saying that “whoever follows Assad’s path will end up like Assad — we will not allow an extremist Islamic terrorist entity to act against Israel across its border while putting its citizens at risk.”
Speaking at a naval base in Haifa, Mr Katz said the Israeli navy “operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet and with great success”.
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.
Mr Katz added that he had instructed the army to establish a “defence zone free of weapons and terrorist threats in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence, in order to prevent terrorism in Syria from taking root and organising”.
It was unclear if the demilitarised zone would reach beyond the buffer zone that Israel has taken over in the border area.
Israel has a long history of seizing territory during wars with its neighbours and occupying it indefinitely, citing security concerns.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally, except by the United States.
Photographs circulating online showed destroyed missile launchers, helicopters and warplanes across the region.
There was no immediate comment from the insurgent groups – led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS – that have taken control of Damascus.
Israel had earlier seized a roughly 155-square-mile buffer zone inside Syria that had been established after the 1973 war, a move it said was taken to prevent attacks in the aftermath of the overthrow of President Bashar Assad.
Israel has also said it is striking suspected chemical weapons sites and heavy weapons to prevent them from falling into the hands of extremists. Israeli officials rarely acknowledge individual strikes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has closely tracked the conflict since the civil war erupted nearly 14 years ago, said Israel has carried out more than 300 airstrikes across the country since rebels overthrew Mr Assad over the weekend, ending his family’s half-century rule.
The observatory, and Beirut-based Mayadeen TV, which has reporters in Syria, said Israeli troops are advancing up the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon. It was not possible to independently confirm the reports.
An Israeli military official said troops plan to seize a buffer zone inside Syria as well as “a few more points that have strategic meaning”, without elaborating.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, dismissed reports of a larger Israeli invasion as “rumours”.
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 Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia has been in talks with the US in recent years over normalising relations with Israel in exchange for a US defence pact, American assistance in establishing a civilian nuclear programme and a pathway to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
But the kingdom has also repeatedly condemned Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip, where it is at war with the Hamas militant group.
Last month, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and day-to-day ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, allegations Israel adamantly rejects.
