Israel strikes near Syria presidential palace in ‘warning’ to Sharaa government

Israeli war planes struck an area near the presidential palace in Damascus in the early hours of Friday morning, in what has been described as a "warning" to Ahmed Al-Sharaa's government.

Local sources told The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the area that Israel targeted previously belonged to the deposed Assad regime’s notorious Fourth Division, which was led by deposed President Bashar al-Assad’s brother Maher, at Rabweh Mountain, southwest of the Syrian capital.

No casualties or damage were reported in the airstrike, which comes after lethal Israeli bombing in southern Syria following clashes between Sunni and Druze armed groups.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Gaza, and Defence Minister Israel Katz also said the strike was a message to Syrian leaders.

"This is a clear message to the Syrian regime. We will not allow the deployment of forces south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," they said a joint statement.

Sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Israeli planes had not left the airspace of Damascus, and were present there for 72 hours.

Israel has been trying to position itself as a “protector” of the Syrian Druze community, demanding that the new government “demilitarise” southern Syria, where most of the country's Druze community live, after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The majority of Syria’s Druze have distanced themselves from Israel and affirmed their loyalty to Syria, in response to the so-called "protection" offers.

However, members of the Syrian Druze community have been killed this week in sectarian clashes, which began after a video - believed to be fabricated - appeared to show a Druze cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

Druze students were attacked at Homs University and armed men from surrounding towns tried to storm the Damascus suburb of Jaramana, which has a large Druze population, resulting in clashes with local people that resulted in dozens of people with a total death toll still not known due to a number of missing residents.

The Syrian government has been trying to calm the situation - even though some of the militias involved in the clashes are believed to be affiliated with it.

The southern Druze-majority province of Suweida is controlled by local militias, and on Friday Al-Arabiya reported that the Syrian interior ministry had come to an agreement with the 'Men of Dignity' Druze militia to restore order and allow the interior ministry to play a more effective role in security.

One Druze leader, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, has however refused all cooperation with the government, describing them as extremists and takfiris. He has called for international protection and claimed that Syrian Druze were facing a "genocidal" assault.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on Friday rejected all calls for international intervention, in response, while Qatar on Friday condemned the Israeli bombing of Damascus.

Suweida province on Friday was relatively calm following clashes on Wednesday and Thursday which left several people dead, after security forces were deployed to the flashpoint towns and armed groups agreed to withdraw.