Israeli bombing raids hit targets in southern Syria and Lebanon

Israel has launched bombing raids against two of its neighbours, hitting government forces in southern Syria and what it said were Hezbollah targets in eastern Lebanon.

- Oliver Holmes

In Syria, the strikes hit forces loyal to the transitional government that had been sent to the province of Sweida, near Israel. Syrian state media also reported Israeli strikes on Tuesday in nearby Deraa province.

Israel, which wants to weaken the new administration in Damascus to maintain its military dominance in the region, said it had struck several tanks in Sweida as a "warning".

In Lebanon, Israeli aircraft bombed the Bekaa valley region and killed 12 people, including a strike on a camp for displaced people, Lebanese state media reported. Reuters cited an unnamed Lebanese security source saying that five of the dead were Hezbollah fighters.

The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said Tuesday's strikes sent a "clear message" to Hezbollah, a faction Israel has fought against for decades, including by repeatedly invading Lebanon.

The strikes on Lebanon and Syria did not appear to be coordinated, but follow a pattern of regular Israeli assaults on armed forces across the region, including in Palestine, Iran and Yemen.

In Syria, the transitional government has said it sent forces south to end days of clashes between Druze and Bedouin groups, who remained armed after the end of the civil war.

Syria's defence minister had earlier on Tuesday announced a ceasefire in the Druze-majority southern city of Sweida.