BURSTIsraeli forces carried out airstrikes on targets in Syria as Israel continues to take more aggressive action in the country following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime over the weekend.
Israel targeted airbases, weapons and ammunition warehouses, aircraft and signal stations in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights, a monitoring and rights group in the country.
The strikes come just two days after Israeli forces moved into a demilitarized zone separating Israel and Syria, expanding their presence from the Golan Heights, which Israel seized in 1967 from Syria.
Israel has moved just beyond the Golan Heights and has swept into several villages over the border area.
The wave of airstrikes has brought some criticism from the international community.
United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said the Israeli attacks in Syria "needs to stop."
"What we are seeing is a violation of the disengagement agreement in 1974," Pedersen said, referring to a treaty that ended the Yom Kippur war and created a demilitarized zone staffed by UN peacekeepers.
In a post on X, Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani denied rumors that Israeli tanks were moving toward Damascus and said that "troops are stationed within the area of separation, to protect the State of Israel."
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said this week that Israel was seeking to ensure the security of its settlements in the Golan Heights, and that troops were securing "control points."
"We are determined not to allow a return to the situation of the sixth of October - neither in the Golan Heights nor anywhere else," he said in a video.
Syria is in a state of instability but also hope after the fall of Assad's regime following 50 years of family rule. Assad was accused of ruling over a brutal dictatorship and overseeing human rights violations.
Assad had ruled over the country mired in a civil war since 2011, but rebel forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled the regime in a stunning offensive this month. Assad, whose chief backers were Russia and Iran, fled to Moscow. HTS launched the offensive as Russia was distracted by its war in Ukraine and Iran and its proxies were struggling to fight Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in remarks after the Assad collapse, praised the toppling of Assad and said it was the "direct result" of Israeli actions against Iran and its proxies.
Netanyahu, who is facing a corruption trial this week and scrutiny at home amid the Gaza war, also said he had "instructed the army to take the actions necessary to prevent harm to our security" by moving into Syria.