Israel’s army conducts ground raid in southern Syria: Israeli media

By Zein Khalil and Rania Abu Shamala

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JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army conducted a ground incursion outside the buffer zone in southern Syria, according to Israeli media on Wednesday.
Israeli Channel 14 said tanks and infantry forces backed by warplanes moved beyond the buffer zone on Tuesday night to allegedly destroy weapons depots.
The broadcaster claimed that the incursion aimed to prevent weapons “from falling into hostile hands.”
The channel said a Hezbollah member was arrested during the operation in the Mazraat Beit Jinn area, southwest of Damascus.
Israel carried out airstrikes late Tuesday on several locations in the Damascus countryside and Daraa province in southern Syria.
After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria. Tel Aviv also intensified airstrikes targeting Syrian military positions across the country.
Israel’s recent military advances in the Golan Heights, which it has occupied since 1967, have drawn condemnation from the UN and several Arab nations.
Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.