File Photo: The wreckage of a vehicle sits in a field in Syria's southern province of Daraa. AFP
The violence in the south, near the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, followed Israeli air strikes in central Syria, the latest in a string of attacks on military sites since rebel forces overthrew longtime president Bashar al-Assad.
Daraa provincial authorities, in a statement posted on Telegram, said in a provisional toll that "five people killed in the Israeli bombardment of the town of Kuwayya".
It added that residents of the town, west of Daraa city, had fled Israeli tank shelling.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that an "Israeli military unit" entered the town and fired heavy artillery at residents attempting to resist their incursion.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites since Assad's fall in December, saying it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities.
It has also deployed to the Golan Heights buffer zone and occupied the area crossing the demarcation line on the occupied Golan.
The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, has reported near-daily Israeli military incursions into southern Syria beyond the demarcation line.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had "struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian military bases of Tadmur and T4", referring to bases in Palmyra and another 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the city.
On Friday, the Israeli army also carried out strikes on the same bases.
Syria's foreign ministry has accused Israel of waging a campaign against "the stability of the country".
At an Arab summit in Cairo in early March, Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa called on the international community to pressure Israel to "immediately" withdraw its troops from southern Syria, calling it a "direct threat" to peace in the region.
* This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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