Israel attacks presidential palace in Damascus: Reason named
Israel uses force to try to make Syria respect an ethnic minority (Photo: Getty Images)
The Israeli Air Force carried out a strike on the grounds of the Syrian president’s palace in Damascus, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and The Times of Israel.
It is noted that IDF fighter jets struck the area of the Hussein al-Sharaa palace in Damascus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement, in which they said that Israel had struck a target near the presidential palace in Damascus.
“This a clear message to the Syrian regime. We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community,” the statement said.
Who the Druze are and the essence of the conflict
The Druze are a religious community that is an offshoot of Islam, with followers in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.
Israel's strikes reflect deep distrust towards Sunni Islamists who overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December, which became another challenge to the efforts of interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa to establish control over the fractured country.
After Assad's overthrow in December, Israel captured territory in the southwestern part of the country, promising to protect the Druze, lobbied in Washington for the weakening of the neighboring state, and destroyed a significant portion of the Syrian army's heavy weaponry in the early days following his downfall.
Sharaa, who was the commander of Al-Qaeda before renouncing ties with the group in 2016, has repeatedly promised to govern Syria based on inclusivity. However, incidents of interfaith violence, including the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, have heightened fears among minority groups about the dominant Islamists.
Religious violence this week began on Tuesday with clashes between Druze and Sunni militants in the predominantly Druze area of Jaramana. The cause of the conflict was an audio recording that cursed the Prophet Muhammad, which, according to Sunni militants, was made by a Druze.
On Tuesday, April 29, more than a dozen people were killed, and by Wednesday, the violence spread to the predominantly Druze city of Sahnaya on the outskirts of Damascus.
Fall of Assad's regime and the new government in Syria
In December of last year, the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham captured key cities in the country, including the capital, Damascus, and forced the dictator Bashar al-Assad to flee abroad. The new president of the country became the leader of the group, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Since then, the Israeli army has regularly shelled airbases and military facilities in Syria to prevent weapons stationed there from falling into the hands of hostile forces and other groups like the Islamic State.
Meanwhile, the US is reducing its military presence in Syria and closing several military bases.
Israel has expressed concern over this decision by Washington, as it would allow Türkiye to increase its political influence in the region.
