Israel denied on Tuesday that its forces had penetrated into Syrian territory beyond the buffer zone with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, after Syrian sources said the incursion had extended to within 25 km (15 miles) of the capital Damascus.

Israel carried out a wave of heavy airstrikes across Syria as its troops advanced deeper into the country, a Syrian opposition war monitor said Tuesday, and the Israeli defense minister announced that his forces had destroyed Syria's navy.

Syria's brutal civil war rekindled suddenly after 13 years, with rebels staging a shock offensive that forced long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia.

Assad defeat newly energized rebel forces? Its anti-Israel “Axis of Resistance” has been overworked and diminished. Yet even as Iran searches for solutions, there are some suggestions it is not panicking.

The news comes a day after Syria’s new interim leader Mohammed al-Bashir announced he was assuming the role of the country’s caretaker prime minister until March 1. Bashir previously served as the head of the rebel administration’s self-formed “salvation government.