Israel strikes Assad regime in Syrian Golan Heights

Israeli jets yesterday struck a position held by the Assad regime in Syria's southwestern Quneitra province in ostensible retaliation for regime violations in the buffer zone separating Syria from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to local residents.

Residents, speaking anonymously due to fears for their safety, said Israeli warplanes struck a concentration of troops loyal to the Assad regime in the city of Baath on the Syrian Golan Heights. Black smoke billowed from the area in the wake of the strikes, according to local residents of the area.

Late on Tuesday, Syrian regime forces shelled the ruined town of Quneitra, located in the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The shelling caused the death of a young girl and the injury of two children, local sources told Anadolu Agency. Wednesday's incident was the third time in one month that Israeli warplanes have targeted Syrian regime forces in the Quneitra province.

The recent spate of airstrikes follows reports of the deployment of Hezbollah fighters – who since 2012 have fought alongside the Assad regime – in Quneitra.

According to a disengagement agreement signed between Syria and Israel in 1974, a ceasefire line separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from a Syria-administered buffer zone. The agreement calls on both Syria and Israel to refrain from all military action in the area, in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 339 of 1973.