Israel conducted air strikes near Syria's presidential palace and on the nation's military headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding 34 others, reported Syrian state media, citing the country's health ministry.
This marks a massive escalation of Israeli attacks against Syria over the week after Israeli air strikes on 15 July were limited to targeting security forces and vehicles in Suweida, a mainly Druze city located in southern Syria, close to the border with Jordan.
Days of deadly clashes between bedouin tribes, Druze armed groups and government forces left more than 300 dead, according to the UK-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Meanwhile, Israel launched air attacks on Suweida on Tuesday after Syrian government forces entered the city, calling on the Syrian government to withdraw its troops.
Israel had pledged to protect Syria's Druze minority, which it sees as potential allies.
Syria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the Israeli attacks on Damascus and Suweida "part of a systematic Israeli policy to ignite tension and chaos and undermine security in Syria".
How did it start?
Violence erupted on Sunday between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze militias, two days after a Druze merchant was abducted on the highway to Damascus.
Although there are reports of government forces carrying out human rights abuses, according to civilians, local monitors and analysts, Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa promised to protect the rights of Druze citizens on Thursday.
Israel is using these violations committed by the security forces, acknowledged as "unlawful criminal acts" by the Syrian presidency, as a pretext to bomb Syria while Israel builds military bases in the demilitarised buffer zone with the country, seized by its forces.
Haid Haid, a consulting fellow at London-based think tank Chatham House, told Al Jazeera that Israel had been clear since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad last year that they did not want Syrian forces "to be deployed to the deconfliction line in southern Syria".
"One way Israel is trying to advance that plan is to present itself as the 'protectors' of the Druze community," Haid said.
Ammar Kahf, the Damascus-based executive director of the Omran Centre for Strategic Studies, said, "The Israelis are not going to allow the Syrian government to spread its authority all over the territory."
The most recent strikes have primarily acted as a warning and a deterrent against the Syrian army deploying to southern Syria.
In particular, Israel fears the presence of Islamist fighters near its northern border, along the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Since December 2024, Israel has obliterated hundreds of military sites in Syria and seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Syrian Golan Heights.
Who are the Druze people?
The Druze are an Arabic-speaking ethno-religious minority found in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the occupied Golan Heights. Their faith is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its unique identity and belief system.
Roughly half of the Druze population lives in Syria, where they make up approximately 3% of the population.
In Israel, the Druze community is widely regarded as loyal to the Israeli state, due to their role in the Israeli military. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, about 152,000 Druze reside in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Within Syria, they have historically occupied a precarious position in the political order.
The Druze operated their own militias in southern Syria during Syria's almost 14-year protracted civil war. And since the ouster of Assad in December, the Druze have resisted state attempts to assert authority over southern Syria.
While Druze factions in Syria are divided in their approach to the new authorities, ranging from caution to outright rejection, many object to official Syrian security presence in Suweida.
Moreover, they have resisted integration into the Syrian army, relying instead on local militias.
In the wake of Assad's fall, Israel has been reaching out to the Druze community near its northern border as part of its objective to build alliances with Syria's minorities.
It has increasingly cast itself as a regional protector of minorities, including the Kurds, Druze and Alawites in Syria, while continuing to bombard military sites.
Some Druze figures in Syria and Lebanon have accused Israel of inciting sectarian divisions to advance its own expansionist intentions.
In a televised statement addressed to the Druze community on Thursday, the Syrian president reiterated that protecting Druze citizens and their rights was a "priority".
"We reject any attempt, foreign or domestic, to sow division within our ranks."
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