Israel bombs hundreds of sites across Syria

Israel said on Tuesday it had bombed more than 350 military sites in Syria during the previous 48 hours, targeting "most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the wave of airstrikes in neighbouring Syria was necessary to keep the weapons from being used against Israel following the Syrian government’s stunning collapse.

Israel also acknowledged its troops were pushing into a border buffer zone inside Syria, which was established after the 1973 Mideast war. However, Israel denied its forces were advancing Tuesday toward the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Life in the capital was slowly returning to normal after jihadi-led Syrian insurgents ousted President Bashar Assad over the weekend. People celebrated for a third day in a main square, and shops and banks reopened.

An Israeli soldier walks next to armored vehicles near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights from Syria, on Tuesday. AP

The United States said Tuesday it would recognise and support a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks and protects the rights of minorities and women.

Syria's nearly 14-year civil war killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of the country’s prewar population of 23 million, becoming a proxy battlefield for regional and international powers.

Associated Press