Israeli fire kills five south Syria — local authority

DAMASCUS — Authorities in southern Syria reported that Israeli bombardment on Tuesday killed at least five people in Daraa province, while Israel's military said it carried out a strike in response to incoming fire.

The violence in the south, near the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, followed Israeli air strikes in central Syria, the latest in a string of attacks on military sites since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime president Bashar Al Assad.

Daraa provincial authorities, in a statement posted on Telegram, said in a provisional toll that "five people killed in the Israeli bombardment of the town of Kuwayya".

It added that residents of the town, west of Daraa city, had fled Israeli tank shelling.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that an "Israeli military unit" entered the town and fired heavy artillery at residents attempting to resist their incursion.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its troops "identified several terrorists who opened fire toward them in southern Syria", without providing a specific location.

"The troops returned fire in response and the IAF (air force) struck the terrorists," it added.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites since Assad's fall in December, saying it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities it considers jihadists.

It has also deployed to the Golan Heights buffer zone, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarisation of southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-annexed Golan.

The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, has reported near-daily Israeli military incursions into southern Syria beyond the demarcation line.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had "struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian military bases of Tadmur and T4", referring to bases in Palmyra and another 50 kilometres west of the city.

On Friday, the army also carried out strikes on the same bases.

Syria's foreign ministry has accused Israel of waging a campaign against "the stability of the country".

At an Arab summit in Cairo in early March, Syria's interim President Ahmed Al Sharaa called on the international community to pressure Israel to "immediately" withdraw its troops from southern Syria, calling it a "direct threat" to peace in the region.