Israeli attack kills six in southern Syria despite EU warning

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Israeli shelling killed at least six civilians in the southern province of Deraa, Syria, authorities said on Tuesday, a day after air strikes killed one person in southern Lebanon despite warnings from EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas that continuing attacks risk further regional escalation.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said "heavy artillery and air bombardment targeted residential and farming areas" in the town of Kuwayya, to the north-west of Deraa city, killing six.

"This escalation comes in the context of a series of violations that started with Israeli forces' penetrating into Quneitra and Deraa provinces, in an ongoing aggression on Syrian territory, in flagrant violation of national sovereignty and international law," the ministry said.

Kuwayya is situated right on the Jordanian border and close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that an "Israeli military unit" entered the town and fired heavy artillery at residents attempting to resist their incursion.

The Israeli army claimed it had struck Syria in response to incoming fire, adding that it had exchanged fire with armed people in the south.

Deraa governor Anwar Al Zoabi said that "Israeli occupation army violations and repeated attacks on Syrian territory pushed a group of residents to clash with a military force that tried to penetrate".

The situation led to an escalation by Israeli forces, he said, "with artillery shelling and drone bombardment".

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said it attacked "remaining military capabilities" at two airbases in Homs province in Syria on Tuesday morning.

Last week Israel also bombed an area near Deraa city, killing three civilians, local authorities said.

At least one person was killed in an Israeli air strike on southern Lebanon late on Monday, state media reported, as air attacks on the country increase.

The air strikes come after Ms Kallas warned during a visit to Jerusalem that Israeli air strikes on Syria on Lebanon threatened to risk further regional escalation.

"A short while ago, the IDF struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian military bases of Tadmur and T4," the Israeli military said, referring to bases in Palmyra and another 50km west of the city.

"The IDF will continue to act in order to remove any threat posed to the citizens of the State of Israel," it added. Israel said on Friday that it struck the same bases after a war monitor first reported the raids.

On Monday during a visit to Jerusalem, Ms Kallas warned that Israeli strikes on Syria and Lebanon were threatening to worsen the situation. "Military actions must be proportionate, and Israeli strikes into Syria and Lebanon risk further escalation," Ms Kallas said at a joint news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

"We feel that these things are unnecessary because Syria is right now not attacking Israel and that feeds more radicalisation that is also against Israel," she added.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites since rebels overthrew Bashar Al Assad in December under the pretext that it wants to prevent weapons from the previous regime falling into the hands of the new authorities which it views as jihadists. The Israeli military has also been sent to the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarisation of southern Syria.

The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, has reported near-daily Israeli military incursions into southern Syria beyond the demarcation line.

When asked about Israel's stance towards Syria's new leaders, Ms Kallas said "of course our worries are the same. They say the right things, will they do the right things?"

Israel continues to carry out strikes in Lebanon in breach of fragile truce that has been in place since November.

Israel is expected to continue its breaches of the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon’s Hezbollah as part of a broader pressure campaign on Beirut, a senior Lebanese military source told The National on Monday. It comes as a top Lebanese official has accused Israel of attempting to lure the country into normalising relations.