Damascus: Israel launched powerful airstrikes in Damascus on Wednesday, blowing up part of the defence ministry and hitting near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw.
The attacks marked a significant Israeli escalation against the Islamist-led administration of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa. They came despite his warming ties with the U.S. and his administration’s evolving security contacts with Israel.
Syria condemned the Israeli airstrikes that struck government buildings in the capital Damascus, calling them a blatant violation of national sovereignty and international law.
In a statement released by the foreign affairs authorities on Wednesday, Syria said the strikes targeted “civilian infrastructure and government institutions” in Damascus and surrounding areas, leaving several civilians, including women and children, injured and causing extensive material damage.
Describing Syria’s new rulers as barely disguised jihadists, Israel has said it will not let them move forces into southern Syria and vowed to shield the area’s Druze community from attack, encouraged by calls from Israel’s own Druze minority.
The U.S. said the fighting would stop soon.
“We have engaged all the parties involved in the clashes in Syria. We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media.
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.
A Syrian government statement on Wednesday said those responsible for lawlessness in Sweida would be held accountable. It said the government was committed to protecting the rights of the people in Sweida.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement condemning the Israeli strikes, reports Xinhua news agency.
“The Secretary-General further condemns Israel’s escalatory airstrikes on Sweida, Daraa and in the centre of Damascus, as well as reports of the IDF’s redeployment of forces in the Golan,” Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
