Six Syrian soldiers killed in Israeli strike near Damascus

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the fall of President Bashar Al Assad

An Israeli Black Hawk helicopter flies over Mount Hermon. Israel has occupied the summit since the fall of Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad. AP

Six Syrian soldiers have been killed in an Israeli drone strike near Damascus, state-run television in Syria reported early on Wednesday.

Israel has regularly struck Syria since rebels toppled long-time ruler Bashar Al Assad in December.

But it has also opened talks with the interim authorities in Damascus on a security deal in a process being mediated by the US.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain, also put the death toll at six and said the soldiers were members of the army's 44th division.

An official at the Syrian defence ministry told news agency AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the drones targeted a military building of the 44th division in Kiswah, west of Damascus.

Elsewhere in Syria, a man was killed in another Israeli strike on a home in the village of Taranja, Syria's official Sana news agency reported. The village lies on the side of an armistice line in the Golan Heights that was previously controlled by Syria.

Since Mr Al Assad's overthrow, Israel has occupied much of the UN-patrolled demilitarised zone on the Syrian side of the line, including the summit of Mount Hermon, the region's highest peak.

Syrian FM accuses Israel of violating Syrian sovereignty

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On Monday, Syria said Israel had sent 60 soldiers into its territory near Mount Hermon. The Israeli military said its troops carried out a routine operation in southern Syria.

Syria's foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned "recent Israeli attacks on its territory", including the strike in Taranja.

It criticised the Israeli "continuation of their illegal presence on the summit of Mount Hermon and the buffer zone".

"These aggressive practices constitute a flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international law, and relevant Security Council resolutions, and constitute a direct threat to peace and security in the region," said a statement reported by Sana.

The UAE also condemned what it called "the dangerous escalation" by the Israeli military.

"Israel's continuing incursions into Syrian territory constitute a flagrant violation of international law and the 1974 disengagement agreement between Syria and Israel, which Israel is obliged to uphold", the UAE's Foreign Ministry said.

Last week, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shaibani met Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Paris to push for a return to the arrangements on the armistice line that had been in place since the 1974 agreement.

In January, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israeli troops would remain on the summit of Mount Hermon indefinitely.

Israel has repeatedly cited its own security concerns in its military interventions, including what it sees as an obligation to protect members of the Druze minority in southern Syria, who share links with Druze living in Israel.