DAMASCUS: An Israeli drone strike killed at least three Syrian soldiers near the capital on Tuesday according to a defence ministry official.
The attack targeted a military building belonging to the Syrian army’s 44th division in Kiswah, west of Damascus.
A Britain-based war monitoring group later reported the death toll had risen to six soldiers from the same division.
Earlier on Tuesday, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported another Israeli strike had killed a young man in the village of Taranja.
The village lies on the formerly Syria-controlled side of the armistice line on the Golan Heights.
Syria’s foreign ministry condemned what it called “recent Israeli attacks on its territory” that resulted in casualties.
The ministry also condemned Israeli forces’ incursion into a town in the Quneitra countryside and their arrest campaigns against civilians.
It further criticised Israel’s “announcement of the continuation of their illegal presence on the summit of Mount Hermon and the buffer zone”.
“These aggressive practices constitute a flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international law, and relevant Security Council resolutions” the ministry stated.
Since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has occupied much of a UN-patrolled demilitarised zone.
This includes the summit of Mount Hermon, the region’s highest peak that was formerly under Syrian control.
Last week, Syrian and Israeli officials met in Paris to discuss returning to arrangements under the 1974 disengagement agreement.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the Islamist-led alliance toppled Assad’s government.
The country has also opened talks with interim authorities now governing in Damascus. – AFP