ISTANBUL

Syrian activists in southern Syria's Suwayda city, where the majority are from the Druze religious community, staged a rally on Friday to protest the Israeli ground aggression on Syria's Daraa province which left at least nine people killed.

The Suwayda governor's office said in a statement that activists in Suwayda held a vigil in solidarity with their people in Daraa province, condemning the Israeli aggression on the province a few days ago.

"Syrian blood is one, and the defense of the country is a must on every free Syrian," read one of the banners during the vigil.

The activists also slammed the international silence on the Israeli aggression against Syria, the statement added.

Meanwhile, Syrians in the Daraa province, during a similar rally, performed prayer-in-absentia for the victims of the Israeli aggression.

Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes targeting several sites in the Syrian capital Damascus and the western provinces of Hama and Homs on Wednesday.

The Israeli army also launched a ground offensive in Daraa in southern Syria, where at least nine people were killed, according to local authorities.

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria.

Israel also took advantage of the regime's fall to launch hundreds of strikes that targeted military sites and assets across Syria, including fighter jets, missile systems, and air defense installations, according to reports.