Israeli bombardment on points in the western countryside of Damascus, and Kurdish units besiege regime-controlled neighborhoods in Qamishli and Hasaka

A military source in the Syrian regime announced that points in the western Damascus countryside were subjected to Israeli shelling late Thursday evening, causing some material damage.

In another development, officials of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces - which is dominated by Kurdish units - announced the tightening of the noose around neighborhoods controlled by the regime forces in the cities of Qamishli and Al-Hasakah in northeastern Syria.

The official Syrian news agency (SANA) quoted the military source as saying that the "Israeli enemy" carried out the missile strikes from the direction of the northern occupied Syrian Golan, noting that the air defense forces confronted the Israeli missiles and shot down some of them.

Local residents in the southwestern Damascus countryside told the German News Agency that several explosions were heard on the outskirts of the city of Qatana, 20 km southwest of the capital Damascus, preceded by the flight of Israeli reconnaissance planes in the far southwestern countryside of Damascus.

In the past years, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria, including sites of the Syrian regime army and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah targets, but the pace has become accelerating in recent weeks.

And last March, an Israeli attack on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus left two civilians dead and some material damage.

3 Syrian soldiers were killed on February 24 in Israeli air strikes targeting areas in the vicinity of Damascus, and in the same month 4 Israeli air attacks were recorded inside Syria.

Israel rarely confirms carrying out strikes in Syria, but it reiterates that it will continue to confront what it describes as Iran's attempts to entrench its military presence in Syria.

Syria has been witnessing an armed conflict since 2011, after the Syrian regime suppressed demonstrations calling for its departure. The conflict caused the death of about half a million people, according to UN and official figures, and caused massive damage to infrastructure, and led to the displacement of about half of the population (about 23 million) inside and outside the country. .

Kurdish protection units advance in al-Hasakah and besiege regime forces (Al-Jazeera - Archive)

Kurdish units and the siege of the regime

Meanwhile, officials from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces - which is led and dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units - and others from the Syrian regime said that the forces led by the Kurdish units and supported by the United States are closing in on neighborhoods under the control of the Syrian regime in the cities of Qamishli and Hasaka, most of which it controls Kurdish units in the northeast of the country.

The "Syrian Democratic Forces" said that they had taken control of about 10 government offices, including those related to local finance, grain and education in an area in the heart of Qamishli city.

For the sixth day in a row, these forces also prevented wheat and fuel from entering another area in the city of al-Hasakah, which is under the control of the Syrian regime forces.

Reuters quoted two witnesses as saying that the "Syrian Democratic Forces" also closed a highway that leads to Qamishli Airport, which is run by the Syrian regime.

The Kurdish units blamed the crisis on the Damascus regime for besieging the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, which is inhabited by a Kurdish majority in the northern city of Aleppo, since the beginning of the month, where more than 200,000 people live in the area, most of whom are Kurds.

Russian-mediated talks on Tuesday failed to defuse the crisis, with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) insisting that the Syrian army lift restrictions that prevented trucks carrying food and flour into the Aleppo enclave first.

And the Russian forces have strengthened their military presence in the region where most of the Syrian oil and wheat is produced, after Turkish threats prompted the Kurdish People’s Protection Units to seek help from Russia to strengthen the front lines with the areas controlled by the Syrian opposition backed by Turkey.

Officials in the Syrian regime accused the "Syrian Democratic Forces" of starving the population.

Al-Hasakah Governor Ghassan Khalil told official media that the SDF "prevents the entry of flour, foodstuffs and fuels that operate bakeries, and this matter worries the citizens in the province and increases pressure on them in these difficult circumstances."

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Syrian regime have been in a tactical alliance for years, and have lucrative oil trade links.

Over the past two years, the Assad regime has accused the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) of treachery and of helping Washington gain control of Syrian oil and wheat production.

Damascus also accuses the Kurdish units of harboring separatist ambitions, which the YPG denies.