By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
Israel said on Wednesday it launched airstrikes in the Syrian capital of Damascus, damaging the country’s defense ministry near its presidential palace, amid fighting in southern Syria.
“The IDF struck the entrance of the Syrian regime’s military headquarters in the area of Damascus in Syria,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a post on social media platform X.
Scores of people have been killed this week in violence in and around the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, pitting fighters from the Druze minority against government security forces and members of Bedouin tribes.
“The IDF continues to monitor developments and the regime’s actions against Druze civilians in southern Syria. In accordance with directives from the political echelon, the IDF is striking in the area and remains prepared for various scenarios,” the IDF also said on Wednesday.
The Syrian health ministry said the strikes in Damascus wounded 13 people, state news agency SANA said on Wednesday.
The news agency also said that Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike targeting Sweida city and Daraa on Tuesday.
In a statement on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the IDF attacked Syrian forces and their weapons — which the regime “intended to use against the Druze” — that entered Sweida.
Druze are followers of an Abrahamic religion and primarily live in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
“Israel is committed to preventing harm being inflicted on the Druze in Syria, owing to the deep covenant of blood with our Druze citizens in Israel and their historical and familial link to the Druze in Syria,” the statement reads.
“We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them, and to ensure the demilitarization of the region adjacent to our border with Syria.”
A statement from the Syrian leadership on Wednesday said those responsible for lawlessness in Sweida would be held accountable. It said the regime was committed to protecting the rights of the people in Sweida.
“These acts, which fall within the category of criminal and illegal behavior, are unacceptable under any circumstances and completely contradict the principles upon which the Syrian state is based,” the statement attributed to the Syrian leadership said, according to SANA.
A local news outlet, Sweida24, reported that Syrian regime forces have searched “civilians’ homes for weapons” and also carried out “field executions against unarmed civilians” in Sweida.
U.S. Syria envoy Tom Barrack, who has praised Syria’s new rulers and declared in May that peace was possible between Syria and Israel, condemned violence against civilians in Sweida.
“All parties must step back and engage in meaningful dialogue that leads to a lasting ceasefire. Perpetrators need to be held accountable,” he said in a statement on X on Wednesday.
The attacks marked a significant Israeli escalation against the administration of interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, occurring despite his warming ties with the United States and his administration’s evolving security contacts with Israel.
In May, the Trump administration lifted sanctions against Syria while President Donald Trump said that al-Sharaa has “got a real shot at pulling it together.”
Al-Sharaa’s forces took over last December following the quick collapse of longtime Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Decades ago, al-Sharaa had joined the al-Qaeda terrorist group and later created the al-Nusra Front, another terrorist group that was based in Syria that opposed the Assad regime and ISIS during the Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011.
Reuters contributed to this report.
