Tel Aviv/Damascus, May 3 (UNI) The Israeli Defence Forces said that its latest strikes in Damascus were a warning to Syria’s new Islamic rulers to not harm its Druze minority, who have been targets of increased state oppression since the ouster of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime.
The airstrikes, which were carried out less than a day after the attack on the presidential palace in Damascus, was followed by a targeted strike against enemy infrastructure.
The IDF in a statement said that on late Friday night, it “targeted a military site, anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile infrastructure,” as the Kan public broadcaster reported that Israel was readying a list of military and government targets to potentially attack in Syria, the Israel Times reported.
The military’s statement came two hours after Syria’s state news agency SANA reported Israeli airstrikes near Damascus and in the west, at Latakia and Hama, as well as in Daraa in the south. SANA said one civilian was killed at Harasta near Damascus, and four people were wounded near Hama.
The airstrikes saw a series of some of IDF’s deadliest attacks in Syria this year, as it targeted more than 20 positions in at least six provinces, according to the UK-based-watchdog - the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state media.
The raids reportedly struck a wide range of locations, including Mount Qasioun, Barzeh, and Harasta in Rural Damascus, with explosions rocking areas near the Harasta Military Hospital.
The IDF attack came after Druze clerics and armed factions reaffirmed their loyalty to Damascus, following clashes between Druze fighters and Syrian forces, including government-affiliated groups, in the Damascus suburbs of Jaramana and in Sweida province in southern Syria. The group said that more than 100 people were killed in the fighting, which took place in areas with large Druze populations.
Syrian Druze leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri had urged the international community to intervene and protect his people from the “genocidal campaign” being carried out by Syria’s government. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also urged the international community to protect Syria’s Druze against “the regime and its terrorist gangs".
Israel is home to over 150,000 Druze people, who took to the streets and demanded that Jerusalem do something to prevent the harassment of its brethren in Syria.
Reaffirming his support to the community, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu called the attack a “message to the Syrian regime” that Israel would not tolerate the presence of Syrian armed forces south of Damascus, “or any threat to the Druze community".
The SOHR said that Israel has now conducted 52 strikes on Syria since the start of this year, including 44 airstrikes and eight ground assaults, destroying at least 79 targets ranging from weapons depots and command centres to military vehicles and missile platforms.
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