ISLAMABAD/Damascus  -  Pakistan yesterday condemned in the strongest possible terms, the Israeli aggression against Syria and its illegal seizure of the Syrian territory.

“This assault on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria is a grave breach of international law,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

It added: “Israel’s provocative actions are a dangerous development in an already volatile region. Israel has continued to blatantly defy international law and violate UN Security Council Resolutions.”

It further said: “Pakistan expresses full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and rejects Israeli acquisition of territory by force. We reaffirm our support for the UN Security Council Resolution 497, which declares Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights “null and void and without international legal effect.”

Pakistan has urged the international community, including the United Nations Security Council, to take immediate and decisive steps to end Israeli impunity, its repeated violations of international law, and aggression against countries of the region.

Pakistan also reiterated that peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved without complete Israeli withdrawal from Occupied Palestine and other occupied territories, including the Syrian Golan.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar held a telephonic conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi.

“They discussed bilateral cooperation and the regional developments including the situation in Syria,” said a statement by the Foreign Office.

War monitor says Israel conducted 300 strikes on Syria since Assad’s fall

A war monitor said on Tuesday that Israel had conducted 300 strikes on Syria since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, adding that the raids had “destroyed the most important military sites” in the country.

Assad fled Syria as a rebel alliance swept into the capital Damascus, bringing to an end on Sunday to five decades of brutal rule by his clan.

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the rebel leader who headed the offensive that forced Assad out, has begun talks on a transfer of power and vowed to pursue former senior government officials responsible for torture and war crimes.

Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes on Syria since the civil war began in 2011 following Assad’s crackdown on a democracy movement.

Since his ouster, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had recorded more than 300 Israeli

strikes.

AFP journalists in the capital Damascus heard loud explosions on Tuesday, but could not independently verify the source or scope of the attacks.

- ‘Most important military sites’ -

On Monday, Israel said it had struck “remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists”.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources around Syria, said Israeli strikes had “destroyed the most important military sites in Syria”.

The group said the strikes targeted weapons depots, boats from the Assad government’s navy, and a research centre that Western countries suspected of having links to chemical weapons production.

AFP journalists on Tuesday saw the defence research centre had been destroyed.

Strikes also targeted the electronic warfare administration, the Observatory said.