The Syrian presidency has denounced Israeli air strikes near the presidential palace in Damascus as a “dangerous escalation”, as tensions soar after Israel accused Syria’s authorities of failing to protect the Druze minority from sectarian violence.
In a statement, President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s office described the Israeli military strikes early on Friday as a “reprehensible attack [that] reflects the continued reckless actions seeking to destabilize the country and exacerbate security crises”.
“Syria will not compromise its sovereignty or security and will continue to defend the rights of its people by all available means,” it said, urging Arab states and the international community to support the country.
Israel’s attack was the second of its kind this week, with Israeli officials saying they wanted to send a message to Syria’s transitional government, led by al-Sharaa.
“This is a clear message to the Syrian regime: We will not allow [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community,” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz shortly after the attack.
Reconnaissance aircraft have continuously been flying at low altitudes over the Syrian capital and its countryside since yesterday, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. Sources close to the Syrian government said the drones belong to the Israeli military.
Later Friday, Al Jazeera Arabic, quoting Syrian medical sources, reported four people were killed in an attack by an unknown drone on a farm in the Suwayda countryside.
The Syrian government accused Israel of being behind the attack, according to the Syrian news agency, confirming four civilians were killed today as a result of an Israeli aggression on the village of Kanaker, southwest of Suwayda. Israeli Army Radio said its forces hadn’t fired in Syria in recent hours.
More than 100 people were killed this week during fighting between pro-government forces and Druze fighters in Syria.
The violence has been condemned as a “genocidal campaign” by Syria’s Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, who called for an immediate intervention by “international forces to maintain peace and prevent the continuation of these crimes”.
On Thursday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged the international community to “fulfil its role in protecting the minorities in Syria – especially the Druze – from the regime and its gangs of terror”.
Israel has previously called Syria’s transitional government a “terror group from Idlib that took Damascus by force”.
Reporting from Damascus on Friday afternoon, Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said the Israeli attack “hit in the vicinity of the presidential palace” but did not cause any damage.
“The Israelis are calling it a warning shot, saying that the Syrian government needs to protect the Druze community. But that’s actually been met with cynicism from senior Druze leaders, saying that [they] actually don’t need Israel to help protect [them],” Khan explained.
He added that “intense negotiations” have been taking place between the Syrian Druze community and the government. “This has now led to a calming down of tensions,” Khan said.
Meanwhile, Qatar condemned the Israeli air strikes on Friday, saying the attack was “a blatant aggression” against Syria’s sovereignty and a violation of international law.
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs also warned that Israel’s “repeated aggressions” against Syria and Lebanon, coupled with its continued war on the Gaza Strip, “are likely to ignite a cycle of violence and chaos in the region”.
Sectarian violence
The Druze minority are a 10th-century offshoot of a branch of Shia Islam, and live primarily in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, and have been allies of Israel with many Druze serving in the Israeli military.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on Thursday called for “national unity” as “the solid foundation for any process of stability or revival”.
“Any call for external intervention, under any pretext or slogan, only leads to further deterioration and division,” he wrote on X.
The sectarian violence poses one of the most serious challenges yet to the government of al-Sharaa, who led a coalition of rebel groups to overthrow Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in December.
Syria has been faced with sectarian violence since then.
The fighting this week follows a massacre in March of more than 1,700 civilians from the Alawite community by security forces and allied groups, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Alawites, who are traditionally based near the Mediterranean coast in western Syria, are the same ethnic group as the toppled al-Assad.
