(File photo) UN envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen

United Nations, March 5 (RHC)-- The United Nations envoy for Syria warns that Israel’s "military escalations, including airstrikes" on the Arab country risks further destabilizing the already fragile situation in the region.

In a fresh act of aggression against Syria, Israel’s warplanes targeted an air defense battalion near the country’s strategic western port city of Tartus on Monday night.

Syrian sources said the raids hit three former Syrian army assets, a radar station north of the town, a weapons depot and a berth near the Mediterranean port of Tartus.

Geir Pedersen said in a statement on Tuesday that he was "deeply concerned by continued violations of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement.”  Such actions, the UN envoy warned, "are unacceptable and risk further destabilizing an already fragile situation, heightening regional tensions, and undermining efforts toward de-escalation and a sustainable political transition."

Pedersen called on Tel Aviv "to cease violations, uphold its international obligations, and refrain from unilateral measures that exacerbate conflict."  He urged "all parties to respect Syria's sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity."

Israel ordered its forces to launch an incursion deep into Syrian territory and seize control of key strategic areas.  The regime has also sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.

Netanyahu has said that his forces will remain in the buffer zone.  Under the terms of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Syria in 1974, the regime’s military is prohibited from crossing the so-called Alpha Line on the western edge of the Area of Separation (AoS).