FRIDAY May 2, 2025 |
By thenewsdesk.ng
Israel struck an area adjacent to the presidential palace in Damascus, the official residence of Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, in a warning to the regime that Jerusalem is committed to protecting the country’s Druze minority. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities, and no immediate reports of casualties, i24News reports.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has escalated military operations in Syria since rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad in December, with bombings across the country and ground forces entering its southwest.
The Druze are a minority sect that is an offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel; in Muslim-majority countries they are typically threatened by jihadists who persecute them as “infidels.”
The strike was “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 Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement.
It followed days of clashes in Syria between Sunni Muslim and Druze gunmen triggered by a voice recording purportedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed. The clashes left more than two dozen people dead in towns around Damascus and prompted an initial Israeli “warning strike” on a town on the capital’s outskirts that killed one member of Syria’s security forces.
