•Fighting continues in northern Syria

By Nkiruka Nnorom with agencies reports

The collapse of the  Assad regime has prompted a punishing military response from Israel, which has launched airstrikes at military targets across Syria and deployed ground troops both into and beyond a demilitarized buffer zone for the first time in 50 years.

The Israeli military says it has struck about 480 military sites across Syria, destroying most of the country’s “strategic weapons stockpiles” over the past 48 hours, while Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said the Israeli navy had destroyed the Syrian fleet overnight, hailing the operation as “a great success.”

In an update on Telegram last night, the Israel Defence Forces shared footage of its forces bombing what it said were the al Bayda and Latakia naval ports, where 15 Syrian vessels were docked.

It said anti-aircraft batteries, airfields and weapons production sites in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra, were also struck.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has claimed attacks on Syria are to ensure weapons used by the Assad regime do not fall into the hands of jihadists.

“We have no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of Syria,” he said in a video statement, “but we certainly do intend to do what is necessary to ensure our security.

Fighting continues in northern Syria between pro-Turkish, Kurdish factions

Two paramedics were killed, the SDF said, when their ambulance was struck by a drone. A woman was killed when the vehicle she was traveling in was hit.

The SDF claimed Turkish warplanes and drones were “flying intensively in the airspace in Kobani, Manbij,” and other areas.“Further south in the city of Raqqa, there had been two drone strikes, the SDF said. Social media video showed a plume of smoke rising in one location in Raqqa. Turkish military and intelligence declined to comment on the strikes. Turkish-backed factions in northern Syria also possess attack drones but have not commented on the situation in Raqqa.