Israel Strikes Syrian Capital, Sending Warning to Government
Israel Strikes Syrian Capital, Sending Warning to Government
nytimes.com
Israel launched deadly airstrikes on Syria’s capital on Wednesday, damaging a compound housing the defense ministry and hitting an area near the presidential palace, according to the Israeli military and Syrian authorities.
An Israeli military official told reporters that Israel was conducting dozens of airstrikes against Syrian forces in Sweida — including targeting Syrian soldiers. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to comply with military protocol, said Israel was acting to prevent a buildup of hostile forces near its borders, as well as to prevent attacks on Druse civilians.
The Israeli military attacked the Syrian military’s general staff compound where it said Syrian commanders were directing government forces in Sweida. The defense ministry is housed in the same complex.
Israeli strikes also targeted an area near the presidential palace in Damascus, the president’s seat of power, the military said.
The Israeli airstrikes in the capital on Wednesday caused “extensive” damage in the heart of Damascus, according to the Observatory, sending thick plumes of smoke rising above the skyline. At least one civilian was killed and 18 were injured, according to Syria’s health ministry.
“We were inside the ministry when the first airstrike hit,” said Abu Musab, 30, an employee at the defense ministry. “Then a second strike followed. Later, the aircraft came back and carried out four strikes in a row,” he added.
“There are still people trapped under the rubble,” he said.
The bombardment in central Damascus, the capital, followed days of bloody clashes involving Syrian government forces in the southern region of Sweida, the heartland of the country’s Druse minority.
The Israeli government, which has pledged to protect that minority, warned Wednesday it would intensify strikes if Syrian government forces did not withdraw from the region, a strategically important province near Israel and Jordan. Israeli officials have said previously that they want to prevent any hostile forces in Syria from entrenching near their borders.
The escalating tensions between Israel and the Syrian government threaten to derail their tentative steps toward warmer ties after decades of hostility. Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Shara — a former Islamist rebel leader — has tried to stabilize the country since overthrowing the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. He has also forged closer relations with the United States.
One of the biggest challenges for Mr. al-Shara’s new government has been controlling waves of sectarian violence that could easily spiral into a wider civil conflict again. These clashes were the third major surge of violence involving Syrian minorities since the Assad regime collapsed.
In March, armed groups who had served in Mr. al-Assad’s security forces ambushed the new government’s forces on the Syrian coast, setting of days of sectarian violence that killed more than 1,600 people, mostly from the minority Alawite sect, according to the Observatory.
In May, more than 39 people, mostly from the Druse minority, were killed over two days in a wave of violence near Damascus.
Shortly after the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus, Syrian authorities announced that a new cease-fire had been reached in Sweida with local leaders. Later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media that the United States had worked with all parties involved in the clashes and had “agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight.”
Soon after, the Syrian state news agency, SANA, reported that government forces had begun withdrawing from Sweida under the cease-fire agreement.
The latest flare-up of unrest in Syria underscored the deep challenges Damascus faces in trying to reassert authority across a country still fractured by a complex web of armed groups left over from the nearly 14-year civil war.