JERUSALEM, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military chief Eyal Zamir toured southern Syria on Wednesday, the military said, a day after Israel carried out airstrikes on an airbase in northwestern Syria, citing what it said was the deployment of Turkish forces there.
"We will not allow hostile forces to establish themselves on our borders," Zamir said during the visit. "We see what is happening and are monitoring the changes on the Syrian front."
"We are still in a multi-front war, alert and operating in all arenas -- escalation can develop in any one of them, and we must remain in constant readiness for that," he added.
The military said Zamir held a security assessment with senior commanders and visited Israeli troops operating in what it calls a "security zone" in southern Syria.
Syria's state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported, citing a military source, that Israeli warplanes carried out eight airstrikes early Tuesday on the runway of the Abu al-Duhur military airport in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, causing material damage but no casualties.
A major Syrian airbase, the Abu al-Duhur military airport is situated near routes linking parts of Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces.
Following the attack, Syria's foreign affairs authority and the Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes in separate statements, describing them as violations of Syria's territorial integrity and unity. ■
