Israel pounds Syrian army bases, denies deeper incursion

DAMASCUS - Israel pounded Syrian army bases on Tuesday in strikes it says aim to keep weapons from falling into hostile hands, but denied its forces had advanced into Syria beyond a buffer zone at the border.

In the Syrian capital, banks reopened for the first time since the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, in a major step towards restoring normal life. Shops were reopening, traffic returned to the roads, construction workers were back fixing a roundabout in the city centre and street cleaners were out sweeping the streets.

Since Assad's flight on Sunday ended more than five decades of his family's rule, Israeli troops moved into a demilitarised zone inside Syria established following a 1973 war. Israel calls the incursion a temporary measure to ensure border security.

Three security sources said on Tuesday the Israelis had advanced beyond the demilitarised zone. One Syrian source said they had reached the town of Qatana, several kilometres to the east of the buffer zone and just a short drive from Damascus airport.

But an Israeli military spokesperson said troops had not left the demilitarised zone.

"The reports circulating in the media about the alleged advancement of Israeli tanks towards Damascus are false. IDF troops are stationed within the buffer zone, as stated in the past," an official from the Israeli Defence Forces said.

Israel says it is not seeking conflict with the new authorities in Syria, but its jets have been bombing targets across the country over the past three days to ensure Syrian military equipment does not fall into hostile hands.

Regional security sources and officers within the now fallen Syrian army described Tuesday morning's air strikes as the heaviest yet, hitting military installations and airbases across Syria, destroying dozens of helicopters and jets, as well as Republican Guard assets in and around Damascus.

The rough tally of 200 raids overnight had left nothing of the Syrian army's assets, said the sources.

Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have condemned the Israeli incursion. Saudi Arabia said the move would "ruin Syria's chances of restoring security".

Israel said its airstrikes would carry on for days but told the U.N. Security Council that it was not intervening in Syria's conflict. It said it had taken "limited and temporary measures" solely to protect its security.

With the mood in Damascus still celebratory, Assad's prime minister, Mohammed Jalali, on Monday agreed to hand power to the rebel-led Salvation Government, an administration previously based in a pocket of rebel-held territory in northwest Syria.

HOLLOWED OUT

The main rebel commander Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, met with Jalali and Vice President Faisal Mekdad on Monday to discuss the transitional government. Jalali said the handover could take days to carry out.

But the reopening of banks on Tuesday was a major step towards restoring normal life, after Syrians were caught without cash following the weekend collapse of the regime.

Four mini-buses arrived at the Central Bank of Syria, with employees disembarking and walking into the building for their first day of work since Assad’s fall.

"It’s a new shift, it’s a new day, a new year, a new life," said Sumayra al-Mukli.

The steamroller advance of the militia alliance headed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate, was a generational turning point for the Middle East.

The civil war that began in 2011 killed hundreds of thousands, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble, countryside depopulated and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.

"This is an incredible moment for the Syrian people," Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said in New York. "We're really focused right now on trying to see where the situation goes. Can there be a governing authority in Syria that respects the rights and dignities of the Syrian population?"

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Timour Azhari in Damascus; Suleiman al-Khalidi and Firas Makdesi in Amman; James Mackenzie and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Andrew Mills in Doha; Tom Perry and Laila Bassam in Beirut; Enas Alashray, Jaidaa Taha and Adam Makary in Cairo; Clauda Tanios, Nadine Awadallah and Tala Ramadan in Dubai; Michelle Nichols in New York; Humeyra Pamuk in WashingtonWriting by Peter Graff and Cynthia OstermanEditing by Lincoln Feast, Michael Perry, Raju Gopalakrishnan, William Maclean)