The Israeli military on Wednesday carried out airstrikes near the Syrian Defence Ministry in Damascus, in likely response to Syrian government forces’ operations against armed clashes in the southern city of Suwayda.
As per Daily Sabah, Israel said it was stepping up attacks on the Syrian government with the declared aim of protecting the Druze minority from alleged harm by national security forces. It marked the third day in a row that Israel has struck Syria, where government security forces have clashed with local Druze fighters in the southern city of Suwayda.
Security sources from within the Defence Ministry told Reuters that at least two drone strikes had hit the building and that officers were taking cover in the basement. State-owned Elekhbariya TV said the Israeli strike wounded two civilians.
The Israeli military said it had “struck the entrance gate of the Syrian regime’s military headquarters complex” in Damascus and that it continued “to monitor developments and the actions being taken against Druze civilians in southern Syria.”
Syria’s state media and witnesses reportedly said Israeli strikes throughout Wednesday also struck the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda, where a fourth day of fighting swiftly collapsed a cease-fire announced the previous evening.
Syrian government troops were dispatched to the Suwayda region Monday to quell fighting between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes, but were attacked by the Druze militias. Local news outlet Suwayda24 said the city of Suwayda and nearby villages were coming under heavy artillery and mortar fire early on Wednesday.
Syria’s Defence Ministry, in a statement carried by state news agency SANA, blamed outlaw groups in Suwayda for breaching the truce. The ministry called on residents of the city to stay indoors.
