In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters in Damascus, Syria, on Wednesday. SANA/AP hide caption
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SANA/AP
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel launched airstrikes into Syria’s capital of Damascus on Wednesday, hitting the Defense Ministry headquarters and an area near the presidential palace.
Israel’s military said it was intervening to defend the minority Druze sect in southern Syria, whose community straddles the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Syrian government forces had joined Bedouin militias in clashes with Druze armed groups in the southern Syrian city of Sweida.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned “in the harshest terms” what it said was Israel’s targeting of “government institutions and civilian facilities” in both Damascus and Sweida, which led to extensive damage. It said Syria has the right to defend itself.
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The Israeli strikes in Damascus killed three people and wounded 34, according to the country’s Health Ministry.
Soon after the attack, Syria’s Interior Ministry and Druze leaders announced a renewed ceasefire agreement, but it was not immediately clear whether the violence would end.
A man walks in front of the heavily damaged Syrian military headquarters in Damascus, following Israeli strikes on Wednesday. Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
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Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty Images
Syria’s Defense Ministry blamed Druze militias in Sweida for violating a previous ceasefire that had been reached Tuesday, saying this caused Syrian government soldiers to return fire. The office of interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa published a statement assuring residents in Sweida that their “rights will always be protected and that we will not allow any party to tamper with their security or stability.”
The fighting comes at a delicate time. The United States has lifted most of its sanctions on Syria and has had warming relations with the Sharaa government. The U.S. has also worked on diplomatic efforts to improve ties between its close ally Israel and Syria.
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the administration was “very worried about the violence in southern Syria” and remained in “constant talks” with officials from Israel and Syria. “We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight,” Rubio said on social media.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce explained that the administration hopes to see “an Israeli withdrawal, a Syrian government withdrawal from the area as well.”
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Since Islamist militias forced authoritarian Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power last year, the country’s new leaders have struggled to consolidate control. Even as Sharaa has repeatedly called for calm, sectarian revenge attacks by primarily Sunni Muslim groups against minorities in the country have been widespread. Hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority — the same sect as the Assad family — have been killed.
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The clashes in Sweida followed back-and-forth kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions that quickly flared into widespread clashes across villages and towns in the area, which saw neighborhoods shelled and homes set on fire. Syrian government forces that intervened to try to restore calm then clashed with the Druze. Amid communications blackouts to the area, many Druze people outside Sweida panicked about the fate of their families.
A convoy of Syrian government forces passes through Mazraa village in southern Syria as it drives toward Sweida city, where clashes erupted between government troops and Druze militias, Tuesday. Omar Albam/AP hide caption
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Omar Albam/AP
Hossam Kotroban, a 52-year-old English teacher, is a Druze resident in Sweida. He tells NPR his people are frustrated and distressed after suffering attacks from Bedouins and Syrian military forces.
“They came to kill us because we are Druze,” he says.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a conflict and rights monitor based in the United Kingdom, said 260 people had been killed in the area as of Wednesday morning, including four children, seven women and 138 Syrian soldiers and security forces.
Druze from Syria and Israel protest on the Israeli-Syrian border, in Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Wednesday, amid clashes between Syrian government forces and Druze armed groups in the southern Syrian city of Sweida. Leo Correa/AP hide caption
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Leo Correa/AP
During the fighting, Israel launched airstrikes targeting government troops and convoys. In Israel, men from the Druze community are conscripted into the military, with some occupying high ranks in the Israeli army.
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How the Israeli Druze community is reacting to their government’s campaign in Syria
DRUZE IN ISRAEL
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On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned Israel’s strikes in Damascus, as well as in Sweida and the Syrian city of Daraa.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry called Israel’s attacks “an act of sabotage against Syria’s efforts to secure peace, stability, and security.”
The United Arab Emirates, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020, said it “firmly denounced” the Israeli strikes in Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Tuesday night that Israel has “a commitment to preserve the southwestern region of Syria as a demilitarized area on Israel’s border.” In remarks Wednesday, he said: “We are acting to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the gangs of the regime.”
In the aftermath of the fall of Syria’s Assad regime, Israel repeatedly struck targets in Syria, destroying key military infrastructure. Israel has said it doesn’t want Islamist militias close to its borders.
The U.N. Security Council is due to hold an emergency session Thursday to address Israel’s attacks in Syria.
Greg Dixon, Hadeel Al-Shalchi and Daniel Estrin reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Jawad Rizkallah reported from Beirut. Michele Kelemen contributed reporting from Washington, D.C., and Ahmed Abuhamda contributed from Cairo.
