Israeli strikes kill 9 in southwestern Syria

Israeli strikes in Syria reportedly killed at least nine people in the southwest of the country on Thursday as Israel accused Turkey of trying to build a protectorate in Syria Syrian state news agency SANA said that those who died in the strikes were civilians without giving details Britainbased war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that they were armed residents from the Daraa provinceIsrael had also struck five cities in Syria late Wednesday including more than a dozen strikes near a strategic air base in the city of Hama where Turkey a key ally of interim President Ahmad alSharaa reportedly has interests in having a military presenceSyrias Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the strikes had resulted in the neartotal destruction of the Hama military airport and the injury of dozens of civilians and military personnel Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Turkey of playing a negative role in SyriaThey are doing their utmost to have Syria as a Turkish protectorate its clear that this is their intention he told a news conference in Paris on Thursday We dont think that it was good when Syria was an Iranian proxy And we dont think that Syria should be a Turkish protectorateTurkeys Foreign Ministry responded with a statement accusing Israel of undermining efforts to establish stability in Syria Israel has become the greatest threat to the security of our region with its attacks targeting the territorial integrity and national unity of the countries in the region it saidIsrael has seized parts of southwestern Syria and created a buffer zone there since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad saying its to secure Israels safety from armed groups But critics say the military operations have created tensions in Syria and aim to prevent any longterm stability and reconstruction for the wartorn countryIn the city of Nawa in western Daraa province thousands took part in a procession through the streets to bury the dead Imad al Basri an activist from the city said that Israeli forces had advanced on Nawa for the first time on Thursday and arrived to the surrounding rural area when people started to come out with light arms to the area of the incursion and there was an exchange of fire from both sidesIsraeli soldiers withdrew and the Israeli military began to target the area with artillery shelling and airstrikes he said adding that ambulances were prevented from reaching the wounded and dead until the morning He called on Syrias new rulers to take a stronger stanceWhy is the government silent about these incursions Last month residents in the village of Koawaya in the province had clashed with Israeli troops trying to cross through agricultural land On Thursday the Israeli military dropped flyers in the area of Koawaya warning residents not to carry weapons and not to cross a road on the southwestern edge of the villageSyrias interim leadership has struggled to appeal to non Sunni Muslim communities Tensions are still simmering with the Druze community in the south and the Alawites on the coast are still fearful after clashes between security forces and Assad loyalists led to revenge killingsAmnesty International said that the killings should be investigated as war crimes and accused governmentaffiliated militias of deliberately killing civilians Our evidence indicates that government affiliated militias deliberately targeted civilians from the Alawite minority in gruesome reprisal attacks shooting individuals at close range in cold blood Agnegraves Callamard secretarygeneral of the international human rights group said in a statement For two days authorities failed to intervene to stop the killingsThe new authorities have however made progress in relations with Kurdishled forces which control much of the countrys northeast Turkishbacked former insurgent groups allied with the new authorities in Damascus had been fighting with Kurdish forces but the clashes subsided after a landmark deal was reached between the Kurdishled Syrian Democratic Forces and the government in Damascus last monthOn Thursday SANA reported that a prisoner exchange had taken place in Aleppo between the SDF and forces affiliated with the new government in Damascus with 250 prisoners slated to be released by both sidesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever