Israel launches airstrikes close to Syria presidential palace in Damascus | Syria

Israel attacked a goal close to the presidential palace within the Syrian capital, Damascus, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned early on Friday, reiterating his vow to guard members of the Druze group.

It marks the second time Israel has struck Syria in as many days, following by means of on a promise to defend the minority group, which was concerned in sectarian violence in opposition to Sunni gunmen earlier this week.

The Druze adhere to a religion that’s an offshoot of Islam and have followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

The strikes mirror Israel’s deep distrust of the Sunni Islamists who toppled Bashar al-Assad in December, posing an additional problem to interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s efforts to determine management over the fractured nation.

“Israel struck final night time close to the presidential palace in Damascus,” Netanyahu mentioned in a joint assertion with defence minister Israel Katz. “This can be a clear message to the Syrian regime: We won’t permit [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any menace to the Druze group.”

The Israeli army mentioned in an announcement it struck “adjoining to the realm of the Palace of Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa in Damascus”, with out specifying the goal. There was no rapid remark from Syria’s authorities.

Since Assad was ousted in December, Israel has seized floor within the south-west, vowed to guard the Druze, lobbied Washington to maintain the neighbouring state weak, and has blown up a lot of the Syrian military’s heavy weapons within the days after he was toppled.

Sharaa, who was an al-Qaida commander earlier than renouncing ties to the group in 2016, has repeatedly vowed to manipulate Syria in an inclusive method. However incidents of sectarian violence, together with the killing of a whole bunch of Alawites in March, have hardened fears amongst minority teams concerning the now dominant Islamists.

This week’s sectarian violence started on Tuesday with clashes between Druze and Sunni gunmen within the predominantly Druze space of Jaramana, sparked by a voice recording cursing the Prophet Mohammad and which the Sunni militants suspected was made by a Druze.

Greater than a dozen individuals had been reported killed on Tuesday, earlier than the violence unfold to the primarily Druze city of Sahnaya on Damascus’ outskirts on Wednesday.