“Israeli” military says struck near Damascus presidential palace

“Israel's” military said Friday it launched air strikes near the presidential palace in Damascus after defence minister Israel Katz threatened intervention if Syrian authorities failed to protect the Druze minority.

The violence poses a serious challenge to the authorities in Syria who ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.

“Israel” has since then attacked hundreds of Syrian military sites and on Friday announced its "fighter jets struck adjacent to the area of the palace" in the capital Damascus, a military statement said.

Syrian Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri had denounced the violence near Damascus as an "unjustifiable genocidal campaign".

He called in a statement Thursday for immediate intervention by "international forces to maintain peace and prevent the continuation of these crimes.”

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.

“Israel” claims the new authorities in Syria are jihadists and has warned them to protect the Druze minority, with Defence Minister Israel Katz saying they could otherwise respond "with significant force".

“Israel” carried out strikes near Damascus on Wednesday and has also sent troops into the demilitarised buffer zone that used to separate “Israeli” and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.

“Reprehensible” violence

At a meeting of Druze leaders, elders and armed groups in the city of Sweida, the community agreed it was "an inseparable part of the unified Syrian homeland", a spokesperson said.

"We reject partition, separation or disengagement," the spokesperson added.

The violence was sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze citizen and deemed blasphemous and offensive to the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.

Truces were reached Tuesday in Jaramana and a day later in Sahnaya, both areas near Damascus.

The Syrian government announced it was deploying forces in Sahnaya to ensure security, and accused "outlaw groups" of instigating the clashes.

However, Hijri said he no longer trusts "an entity pretending to be a government... because the government does not kill its people through its extremist militias... and then claim they were unruly elements after the massacres".

"The government (should) protect its people," he said.