Six Syrian army officers were killed in Israeli strikes south of Damascus, Al Jazeera reported, citing Syrian state television.
Israeli drones attacked Syrian army positions on the outskirts of Damascus, near the town of al-Kiswa. Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime last December, Israel has stepped up its strikes targeting military targets in Syria. Israel also expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry announced that Israel had sent 60 soldiers to take control of an area on the Syrian border around Mount Hermon to the Lebanese border in southern Syria. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani accused Israel of establishing intelligence facilities and military posts in the demilitarized zones to advance its "expansionist and divisive plans".
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined his vision for a "Greater Israel", a concept encompassing the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and parts of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan. A coalition of 31 Arab and Islamic countries and the Arab League said the position was a dangerous violation of the rules of international law and the foundations of stable international relations.