DAMASCUS/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -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 and came despite his warming ties with the United States and his administration’s evolving security contacts with Israel.
Describing Syria’s new rulers as barely disguised jihadists, Israel has said it won’t 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.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the situation as “complicated” but said it looked like a “misunderstanding”. He said he thought progress towards de-escalation would be made within hours.
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.
Reuters reporters heard warplanes swoop low over the capital and unleash a series of massive strikes mid-afternoon. Columns of smoke rose from the area near the defence ministry. A section of the building was destroyed, the ground strewn with rubble.
A Syrian medical source said the strikes on the defence ministry killed five members of the security forces.
An Israeli military official said the Israeli military struck the entrance to the military headquarters in Damascus and a military target near the presidential palace.
The Israeli official said Syrian forces were not acting to prevent attacks on Druze and were part of the problem. Defence Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military would “continue to operate vigorously in Sweida to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until they withdraw completely”.
Sharaa is facing major challenges to stitch Syria back together in the face of deep misgivings from groups that fear Islamist rule – mistrust exacerbated by mass killings of members of the Alawite minority in March.
Syrian government troops were dispatched to the Sweida region on Monday to quell fighting between Druze fighters and Bedouin armed men but ended up clashing with the Druze militias.
Late on Wednesday, the Syrian interior ministry and a Druze leader, Sheikh Yousef Jarbou, said a ceasefire had been reached.
However, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari, another Druze leader, said fighting should continue until Sweida is “entirely liberated”. A ceasefire that was announced on Tuesday collapsed.
Sweida residents said they were holed up indoors. “We are surrounded and we hear the fighters screaming … we’re so scared,” said a resident of Sweida who was reached by phone.
The crack of gunfire interspersed by booms could be heard in the background. “We’re trying to keep the children quiet so that no one can hear us,” the man added, asking not to be identified for fear of reprisals.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said 169 people had been killed in this week’s violence. Security sources put the toll at 300. Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.
MINORITY
Druze are followers of a religion that is an offshoot of Islam and are spread between Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
Following calls in Israel to help Druze in Syria, scores of Israeli Druze broke through the border fence on Wednesday, linking up with Druze on the Syrian side, a Reuters witness said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military was working to save the Druze and urged Israeli Druze citizens not to cross the border. The Israeli military said it was working to safely return civilians who had crossed.
U.S. Syria envoy Tom Barrack, who has praised Syria’s new rulers and declared in May that peace was possible between Syria and Israel, condemned violence against civilians in Sweida.
“All parties must step back and engage in meaningful dialogue that leads to a lasting ceasefire. Perpetrators need to be held accountable,” he said.
Israeli Druze man Faez Shkeir said he felt helpless watching the violence in Syria. “My family is in Syria – my wife is in Syria, my uncles are from Syria, and my family is in Syria, in Sweida, I don’t like to see them being killed. They kicked them out of their homes, they robbed and burned their houses, but I can’t do anything,” he said.
On Tuesday, a Reuters reporter said they had seen government forces looting and burning homes and stealing cars and furniture in Sweida. One man showed the reporter the body of his brother who had been shot in the head inside their home.
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.
Sharaa has repeatedly promised to protect minorities.
(Reporting by Khalil Ashawi in Damascus, Maya Gebeily, Yamam al-Shaar and Laila Bassam in Beirut, Steven Scheer and Crispian Balmer, Emily Rose in Jerusalem; Tala Ramadan, Ahmed Elimam, Elwely Elwelly in Dubai, Nayera Abdallah; Siyabonga Sishi in Majdal Shams, Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul, Trevor Hunnicutt, Katharine Jackson in Washington; Writing by Maya Gebeily and Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ros Russell)
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