Israel is striking near the presidential palace in Damascus

Israel made its threat to execute on Friday, May 2, by bombing the surroundings of the presidential palace in Damascus, claiming to act in retaliation after battles that affected the Druze community in Syria.

At dawn, “Combat planes have struck the surroundings of the palace”announced the Israeli army on Telegram. Thursday, the chief of the Druze minority, protected by the Israeli power, accused the power of the new Syrian president, Ahmed al-Charaa, of “Genocide”, claiming “An immediate intervention of international forces”, after denominational clashes that left more than 100 dead. Israel, close to Syria with which he was in a state of war, had immediately threatened to answer “force” If Damascus did not protect this religious minority.

“It is a clear message sent to the Syrian regime. We will not allow forces [syriennes] are dispatched south of Damascus or threaten any way the Druze community “hammered, in a press release published in English by the newspaper Times of Israel, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, and his Minister of Defense, Israel Katz.

Fighting this week in Jaramana and Sahnaya, in the suburbs of Damascus, where Christians and Druzes live, as well as Souweida, a druze majority in the south of the country, woke up the specter of massacres which had left, at the beginning of March, more than 1,700 dead, in the vast majority of members of the Alawite minority, in the west of the country. These clashes between Druze fighters and armed groups linked to President Ahmed Al-Charaa illustrate persistent instability in Syria, almost five months after the overthrow of his predecessor Bashar al-Assad, from the Alawite minority.

Israel had already carried out strikes on Wednesday on the Sahnaya region. Benyamin Netanyahu and Israel Katz claimed that it was“A warning action” against a “An extremist group that was preparing to attack the Druze population of Sahnaya”.

“If the attacks on the Druzes resume and the Syrian regime fails to prevent them, Israel will respond with significant force”had then warned Mr. Katz in a statement from his ministry.

The UN calls for restraint

The Israeli army had announced that its forces were ready to strike targets from Syrian power if “Violence against the Druze community persisted”. She also said that she had evacuated three Syrian Druzes to Israel injured in the clashes.

The United Nations urged “All parties to show maximum deduction” And American diplomacy has castigated “The latest violence and incendiary rhetoric” antidruzes “Reprehensible and unacceptable”.

Druzes are a minority of Shiite Islam. Its members are divided between Lebanon, Syria and Israel. “We are an inalienable part of Syria”underlined a spokesperson for the rally of religious authorities, traditional leaders and armed groups Druze in Souweida, adding that the community rejected “Any division” of the country.

The fighting in Syria was triggered on Monday evening by an attack of armed groups affiliated to power against Jaramana, after the broadcast on the social networks of an audio message attributed to a Druze and judged blasphemous with regard to the Prophet Muhammad. The France-Presse agency could not verify the authenticity of the message. Syrian authorities have accused elements that escape its control of having caused violence.

According to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights), these clashes left 102 dead, including 30 members of the affiliated security forces, 21 Druze fighters and 11 civilians in Jaramana and Sahnaya. In the province of Souweida, in the south, 40 Druzes fighters perished, including 35 in an ambush, according to the NGO.