More Israeli raids on Syria despite warning

UN diplomat decries 'military escalations'

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Israeli warplanes launched more air strikes against military targets in Syria on Thursday, hours after the United Nations said such attacks “undermine efforts to build a new Syria”.

Thursday’s air raids came after a wave of Israeli strikes on military targets, including an airport, and a ground incursion in the south killed 13 people.

War monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported two strikes “on military positions and posts” in the vicinity of al-Kiswah and al-Muqaylibah outside Damascus.

It said there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Since Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has been bombing Syrian military assets extensively and has conducted ground incursions into southern Syria to repel the new government’s forces from the border.

UN envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen decried “the repeated and intensifying military escalations by Israel in Syria, including air strikes that have reportedly resulted in civilian casualties”.