Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Israeli warplanes late Tuesday struck military sites in southern Syria, the Israel Defense Forces said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to demilitarize the border region.
The attack was announced on X, with the IDF stating that Headquarters and "sites containing weapons" were hit.
"The presence of military assets and forces in the southern part of Syria poses a threat to the citizens of the State of Israel," the IDF said in a statement.
"The IDF will continue to act to remove any threat to the citizens of the State of Israel."
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli warplanes targeted military sites of the Syrian army near the borders between Syria and Lebanon.
Israel has occupied regions of southern Syria near their shared border since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad fell late last year, and its government under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to prevent the region from being used again to attack it.
"In Syria, IDF forces will remain on the summit of Mount Hermon ... And in the adjacent buffer zone, we will remain for the foreseeable future," Netanyahu said Tuesday via telecast during the lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee Summit in Washington.
"We will not allow the presence of the HTS organization or a new Syrian army in the area south of Damascus. Southern Syria will be demilitarized," he said, referring to the Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham insurgent coalition from northern Syria.
