Israel has struck the headquarters of the Syrian military in Damascus, compounding a volatile situation on the ground and following through on its threats over clashes between Syrian government troops and Druze fighters in the southern Syrian city of Suwayda.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Wednesday that the Israeli military had struck the entrance of the Syrian military headquarters in Damascus.
The strikes came hours after Katz’s threat to the Syrian government to withdraw from Suwayda, where they have been engaged in fierce clashes in recent days with fighters from Syria’s Druze minority, whom Israel views as a potential ally in Syria and claims to be intervening to protect.
Fierce fighting has resumed in the southern city, a major centre for the Druze community, since a ceasefire announced by the Syrian government on Tuesday swiftly collapsed.
Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid said that he had witnessed two drone attacks on the headquarters of the Syrian Defence Ministry, one in front at the entrance to the building, and the other near the back. Drones were continuing to circulate overhead and bursts of gunfire had been heard, apparently from Syrian defensive positions shooting at the drones.
“This goes to show the situation is escalating. Israeli strikes have now reached the heart of Damascus,” he said.
‘Performative escalation for now’
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Rob Geist Pinfold, lecturer in international security at King’s College London, said the latest Israeli strikes appeared to be a “performative escalation for now”.
“They deliberately hit open areas near or in the defence academy in Syria, rather than looking to demolish the structure and cause significant casualties,” he said.
That was different to how Israel had been operating in the Suwayda area, he said, where it has been carrying out punishing strikes on Syrian troop positions who have entered the region amid clashes with Druze fighters.
Geist Pinfold said that Israel’s strikes in Suwayda had began with “performative” actions, before escalating into “attacks against Syrian security forces which have killed unprecedented numbers”.
“This could be the thin end of the wedge here,” he said of the Damascus strikes.
“This is a performative escalation for now but we are very, very close to Israel launching more prolonged, more direct and more dangerous, damaging strikes through Syria.”
Ceasefire collapses
Sectarian violence in Suwayda resumed in full force earlier on Wednesday, despite the announcement of a ceasefire by the Syrian government the previous night, Syria’s Ministry of Defence told Al Jazeera. Ministry officials blamed groups “outside the law” for breaking the ceasefire and attacking government troops, who they said were responding to fire while taking into account rules of engagement to protect civilians.
The ministry told Al Jazeera it had opened safe corridors in the city for civilians to flee the violence.
Speaking from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Bin Javaid said at least 70 people were believed to have been killed in the fighting so far. Medical sources in the city say more than 200 people have been injured in the violence.
Meanwhile the UK-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 250 people had been killed as of Wednesday morning, including four children, five women and 138 soldiers and security forces. The observatory added that at least 21 people were killed in “field executions”.
Israeli air attacks continue
On top of the clashes on the ground, Israel has continued its air raids, with at least seven attacks launched around Suwayda on Wednesday, as well as the strikes on Damascus, Bin Javaid said.
In a threat to Syria prior to launching the strikes on Damascus, Katz said government forces must be withdrawn from Suwayda, or Israel would ramp up its attacks.
“As we have made clear and warned – Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarisation policy we have decided on,” he said.
Syria has condemned Israel’s intervention as a violation of international law, as have several Arab nations. Israel has also been attacking other areas of Syria regularly since longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was deposed in December, claiming it is targeting weapons sites. The Israeli government has dismissed the fledgling Syrian government of Ahmed al-Sharaa as “extremists”.
The United States has revoked its designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) as Washington softens its approach to post-war Syria. The decision earlier this month is part of US President Donald Trump’s broader strategy to re-engage with Syria and support its reconstruction after more than a decade of devastating conflict.
The outbreak of violence in the southern city on Sunday was triggered by a wave of recent kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed groups, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Suwayda, witnesses told the Reuters news agency.
Syria’s Druze population numbers about 700,000, with Suwayda home to the sect’s largest community. Bedouin and Druze factions have a longstanding feud in Suwayda, with violence occasionally erupting.
Bin Javaid said tensions in the latest outbreak of violence had been inflamed by material of killings and abuses posted on social media. “That created a flurry of reaction… from both sides,” he said.
Geist Pinfold told Al Jazeera that the situation in Suwayda had evolved into “an extremely complicated dynamic”.
“What began as an act of petty crime has now degenerated into mass killings with a sectarian dimension, and of course the threat of further Israeli military action looming,” he said.
Since the overthrow of al-Assad, concerns have been raised over the rights and safety of minorities under the new authorities, who have also struggled to re-establish security more broadly.
“Since this government took charge, the Druze have not really accepted them as the government that will look after their aspirations and hopes as well,” said Bin Javaid.
Clashes between government troops and Druze fighters in April and May killed dozens of people, with local leaders and religious figures signing agreements to contain the escalation and better integrate Druze fighters into the new government.
The Druze developed their own militias during the nearly 14-year ruinous civil war. Since al-Assad’s fall, different Druze factions have been at odds over whether to integrate with the new government and armed forces.
Geist Pinfold told Al Jazeera that Israel had been working closely with an influential Druze sheikh, Hikmat al-Hijri, who has been a key player in the escalation of the situation in Suwayda following the initial abduction on Friday.
“It was his forces that took government buildings … within Suwayda and it was then that Israel chose to act to defend him from Syrian security services who are looking to restore order,” said Pinfold.
He said Israel’s attacks on Syrian troops in the south appeared to have inflicted a high number of casualties.
Israel’s response to the situation showed it had not taken the opportunity for a reset with Syria’s new government and to work towards a stabilisation of relations, he added.
