Even as Israel pounded Syrian army bases on Tuesday, UN special envoy to Syria warned Israel that its airstrikes and ground invasion into Syrian territory need to stop.
The UN’s special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, said that Israel's actions are in violation of the 1974 agreement between Israel and Syria.
Speaking at a media briefing in Geneva, the Norwegian said: I am not in contact with the Israelis. But of course, the United Nations in New York, they are. And you know, the peacekeepers on the Golan Heights are, of course, in daily contact with with Israelis. And the message from New York is the same. What we are seeing is a violation of the disengagement agreement from 1974, so we will obviously, with our colleagues in New York, follow this extremely closely in the hours and days ahead.
Israel has claimed it is taking “limited and temporary measures” to ensure its security. Troops have entered Syria from the area of the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981.
The Times of Israel quoting agency reports said that Israel pounded Syrian army bases on Tuesday in strikes it says aim to keep weapons from falling into hostile hands, but denied its forces had advanced into Syria beyond a buffer zone at the border.
Regional security sources and officers within the now-fallen Syrian army who spoke to Reuters described Tuesday morning’s airstrikes as the heaviest yet, hitting military installations and airbases across Syria, destroying dozens of helicopters and jets, as well as Republican Guard assets in and around Damascus.
The rough tally of 200 raids overnight had left nothing of the Syrian army’s assets, said the sources.
On Tuesday, according to The Guardian, Israel denied reports that its troops had come within 25km of Damascus. Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said “the reports circulating in the media about the alleged advancement of Israeli tanks towards Damascus are false.”
He claimed Israeli troops are stationed within a buffer zone between the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights and Syria. Israel’s military had previously said troops would enter the buffer zone “and several other places necessary for its defence.”
Overnight Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on the Syrian capital. Associated Press reports that the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israel has carried out more than 300 airstrikes across the country since Bashar al-Assad was overthrown.
Israeli media has reported that the IDF is “systematically destroying” what is left of Assad’s military.