Israel strikes Damascus after plea for help from druze minority

Sam Dagher, Bloomberg News on May 2, 2025

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Israel struck a target near the presidential palace in the Syrian capital after the Druze community in both countries called for help following a series of violent clashes between the minority group and Syrian government forces.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a post on Telegram on Friday that its fighter jets hit an area close to the People’s Palace, which is perched on a hill overlooking Damascus.

It was the second time this week Israel has conducted military action in and around Damascus, an extension of a wider offensive in Syria since President Ahmed Al-Sharaa overthrew long-time predecessor Bashar Al-Assad in December. That’s part of a shift in Israeli defense policy to one of more aggression beyond the country’s borders, following the October 2023 attacks by Hamas that triggered the war in Gaza.

“This is a clear message to the Syrian regime,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement after the strike. “We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.”

The Israeli strike came after a spiritual leader of Syria’s Druze minority called on international forces to protect his community after a wave of violence involving Sharaa’s forces left at least 70 people dead. The spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, also called on Netanyahu to intervene.

Sharaa, a one-time commander of a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, had assured international officials the country’s minorities would be protected following his rise to power, but the recent clashes calls those statements into question.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Wednesday citing a crackdown on “lawless groups” and rejecting “all forms of external intervention in its internal affairs.” It added that calls for international protection are “illegitimate”.

The worst of this week’s clashes between Syrian government forces and the Druze were in Sahnaya, a town south of Damascus, and on the highway between the Syrian capital and the southern province of Suwayda, where the Druze are concentrated.

Israel also faces immense pressure from its own sizeable Druze community, which wants the government to do more to protect their coreligionists in Syria.

“We are doing everything in our power to elicit action from those that have influence over the situation in Syria,” Tarif said in a statement.

Israel has systematically bombed its neighbor’s military infrastructure since Assad’s fall and extended its territory in the area southwest of Damascus.