ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Israeli warplanes on Monday night carried out air raids on the countryside of Latakia and Homs provinces, western Syria. The Syrian foreign ministry condemned the attacks as “a flagrant violation” of international law.

The attacks on Homs targeted a residential area on the outskirts of the city, while similar strikes targeted the Sqoubin area in Latakia’s northern countryside, Syrian state media reported.

No injuries have been reported as of the writing of this article.

In a statement hours later, the Syrian foreign ministry strongly condemned the attacks, calling it “a blatant violation” of the country’s sovereignty and part of Israel’s “aggressive escalations” against Syria.

“While Syria categorically rejects any attempts to undermine its sovereignty or harm its national security, it calls on the international community, especially the Security Council, to assume its legal and moral responsibilities and take a clear and firm position that puts an end to these repeated attacks and ensures respect for Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said the ministry.

Israel has repeatedly launched airstrikes against Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, nominally to destroy weapons caches and protect the minority Druze community that has been the target of sectarian massacres at the hands of armed forces affiliated with the new Damascus government.

The Israeli military has in recent weeks launched several incursions into Syrian territories.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz in December ordered the Israeli forces to complete the takeover of the 1974 buffer zone in the Golan Heights, separating the two states.

The buffer zone was established by the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between the two countries. Israel claims that, with the fall of the Assad regime, the agreement is considered void until the restoration of order in Syria.