DAMASCUS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes carried out multiple strikes on Sunday against the former Syrian government's military and security sites in and around Damascus, as well as targets in the southwestern province of Quneitra, according to local reports and observers.
In the Syrian capital, air raids targeted the security compound district near former army headquarters, intelligence offices, and customs buildings, igniting fires and sending thick plumes of smoke into the air, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Earlier in the day, Israeli jets struck storage facilities once used by the now-defunct Fourth Division near a research center outside Damascus, as well as another old military site in Syria's eastern mountain range bordering Lebanon.
The al-Mezzeh Military Airport in Damascus and the outskirts of Beitima village in western rural Damascus were also targeted, producing a series of loud explosions.
Additional strikes hit previously held military positions near Quneitra and empty observation posts in the Jabal al-Sheikh area, where Israeli ground forces reportedly advanced to secure those abandoned outposts.
The rapid succession of strikes highlights Israel's efforts to consolidate control over key strategic points and preemptively neutralize any remaining military infrastructure linked to the former Syrian leadership, possibly preventing its use by the opposition factions currently in control.
These incidents come as Syrian opposition fighters seized Damascus earlier on Sunday, declaring the end of President Bashar al-Assad's rule. ■
