ISRAELI attacks have targeted military sites in Syria’s coastal Tartous region in the “heaviest strikes” in the area in more than a decade, human rights group warned today.

It came as Israel’s government approved a plan to include the number of illegal settlers occupying the Golan Heights just days after using the ousting of Bashar al-Assad as an opportunity to seize more territory.

The plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will double the number of Israeli settlers living in the region with a budget exceeding 40 million shekels (about £9m).