ISRAEL continued to pound Syria with heavy air strikes today as its troops advanced deeper into the country, according to eyewitnesses.

Israeli forces have continued to push into a buffer zone inside Syria following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad. Israel denied reports its troops have moved beyond this zone and are within a few miles of Damascus.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it carried out more than 350 strikes in Syria over the last 48 hours, hitting “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country to stop them from falling into the hands of extremists, adding it had destroyed the whole Syrian fleet.