Israel said it bombed Syrian army headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday, July 16, after warning the Islamist-led government to leave the Druze minority alone in its Sweida heartland, where a monitor says sectarian clashes have killed nearly 250 people.
Syrian government forces entered the majority-Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a ceasefire agreed with Druze community leaders after clashes with local Bedouin tribes left more than 100 people dead. However, witnesses reported the government forces joined with the Bedouin in attacking Druze fighters and civilians in a bloody rampage through the city.
The Islamist-led authorities have had strained relations with Syria's patchwork of religious and ethnic minorities since they toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December. The fighting marks the most serious outbreak of violence in Syria since government forces battled Druze fighters in Sweida province and near Damascus in April and May leaving more than 100 people dead.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called on Damascus to "leave the Druze in Sweida alone." "As we have made clear and warned, Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarization policy we have decided on," he said in a statement. Syrian forces should withdraw, he added, and promised no let-up in Israeli military attacks until that happened, saying Israel would "raise the level of responses against the regime if the message is not understood."
Shortly afterwards, the Israeli military said it had hit Syria's military headquarters in Damascus. Syrian state television reported that two people were wounded in central Damascus, without giving a more precise location.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 248 people had been killed in Sweida province since the violence erupted on Sunday. According to the Observatory, witnesses and Druze armed groups, government forces took part in fighting alongside the Bedouin against the Druze.
The Syrian defense ministry accused "outlaw groups" of attacking its forces inside the city, saying they are now "continuing to respond to the sources of fire." Since they toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria's Islamist authorities have been accused repeatedly of trampling over the rights of the country's religious and ethnic minorities. Israel has presented itself as a defender of the Druze, although some analysts have said that is just a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping government forces as far from the border as possible.