Israeli fighter jets struck near the Syrian presidential palace in the capital, Damascus, on Friday, in what Israel’s leaders said was a warning to President Ahmed al-Shara’s government to protect the Druse minority after a recent wave of sectarian violence.
More than 100 people were killed this week in clashes involving a number of parties including Sunni Muslim extremists not fully under the government’s control, forces of the new government and militia members from the country’s Druse minority.
Both Israel and Syria have large Druse communities. Israel has offered before to protect the Syrian Druse should they come under attack during the tumultuous transition of power in the country after the overthrow of the Assad dictatorship by Islamist rebels in December.
Since the fall of the regime, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes and incursions on Syrian territory, destroying weapons and military outposts. Israel says that it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of hostile groups and that it does not want enemy forces to entrench themselves in the southern Syrian territory close to its borders now controlled by Druse militias.
Israel said it had attacked near the presidential palace in Damascus and its defense minister, Israel Katz, called this “a clear warning.” He said when Mr. al-Shara “wakes up and sees the results of Israeli Air Force jets strike, he will understand well that Israel is determined to prevent any harm to the Druse in Syria.”
An earlier statement by Mr. Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We will not allow a movement of forces from south of Damascus and any danger to the Druse community.”
In February, Mr. Netanyahu said Israel was demanding “total demilitarization” of southern Syria.
Israeli analysts said Israel’s determination to prevent the Syrian government from establishing a military presence near its border was, at least partly, a result of its experience with Hezbollah in Lebanon. For decades, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, established strongholds in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel that enabled it to threaten Israeli communities across the frontier.
The strike on Friday was the second time this week that Israel had intervened militarily inside Syria on behalf of the Druse amid a new bout of sectarian violence in the country.
Mr. al-Shara led a rebel group once affiliated with Al Qaeda before he became president and then headed a coalition of rebel forces to topple President Bashar al-Assad. He has tried in recent months to present himself as a statesman, but Israeli leaders have expressed wariness.
The Syrian president’s office condemned the Israeli attack near the presidential palace as a “dangerous escalation,” adding that the international community must take action.
Syria’s new leadership must strike a delicate balancing act. Mr. al-Shara has previously condemned what he calls Israel’s “aggressive expansion,” but he wants to avoid further escalation with Israel as he grapples with myriad security challenges from within.
The Druse practice a secretive religion rooted in Islam, and some of those living in Syria have ties to the Druse community in Israel.
Israel has not only offered to protect the Druse in Syria, it has also tried to cultivate relations with the community. But many Syrian Druse have rejected what they consider potentially destructive foreign meddling.
The Druse community in Israel, however, is pressing for Israel to intervene.
Friday’s strike in Damascus came after Druse protesters in Israel blocked highways on Thursday amid mounting demands from members of the community there that Israel act forcefully in Syria.
On Thursday, the Israeli military said that two injured Syrian Druse citizens had been evacuated to receive medical treatment in Israel. Israeli troops had earlier in the week evacuated several other Syrian Druse hurt in the violence.
The Israeli military also said on Thursday that its forces were deployed in the southern Syrian region and “prepared to prevent hostile forces from entering the region and Druse villages.”
Mr. Katz, the defense minister, said on Thursday that Israel would “respond with great severity” if attacks on the Druse did not stop, saying the Syrian leadership bore responsibility for preventing them.
“We are committed to defending the Druse,” he added.
On Wednesday, Israel launched airstrikes on Syria and threatened to strike government forces there if clashes persisted between Sunni Muslim militants loosely affiliated with the government and Druse militia members. The Israeli military said its aircraft had struck a group of “operatives” whom Israel accused of having “attacked Druse civilians” in the spreading violence around the outskirts of Damascus.
The most recent outbreak of sectarian unrest in Syria began on Tuesday after an audio clip circulated on social media purporting to be of a Druse cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric denied the accusation, and Syria’s Interior Ministry said he was not involved.
Nevertheless, armed Sunni Muslim extremist groups began attacking areas with large Druse populations, including the city of Jaramana near Damascus. Druse militias responded in force, and the government sent security personnel to quell the unrest.
On Wednesday, the clashes spread to another town on the southern outskirts of Damascus, and into the Druse-controlled Sweida region of southern Syria, with fighting continuing until Thursday morning.
Five prominent Druse leaders released a statement Thursday night saying that Interior Ministry personnel and judicial police “drawn from the people” of Sweida “must be activated,” indicating a willingness to join forces with the government.
They also said government forces were being deployed to secure the road from Sweida to the capital. The government also agreed to send reinforcements to protect Jaramana, Druse leaders there said.
The State Department on Thursday called on Syria’s government to stop the sectarian violence and hold the perpetrators accountable.
“The recent violence and inflammatory rhetoric targeting members of the Druse community in Syria is reprehensible and unacceptable,” said a spokeswoman, Tammy Bruce. “Sectarianism will only sink Syria and the region into chaos and more violence.”
There are more than one million Druse across the Middle East, mostly in Syria and Lebanon, with some also in Jordan and Israel. Those in Druse communities, wherever they may be, generally tend to participate in national civic and political life and often serve in the local military, despite maintaining a distinct culture and religious practices.
Euan Ward and Adam Rasgon contributed reporting.
Ephrat Livni is a reporter for The Times’s DealBook newsletter, based in Washington.
Michael D. Shear is a White House correspondent for The Times. He has reported on politics for more than 30 years.
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