Understanding This Week's Israeli Strikes on Syria: What We Know So Far

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Since Monday, Israel has launched attacks on Syrian government positions and other locations, claiming it aimed to protect the Druze minority following clashes in southern Syria.

Despite technically being at war with Syria for decades, Israel has stated that it will not tolerate the presence of the Islamist-led government forces in southern Syria, adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The strikes began as Syrian government troops moved into the Druze minority stronghold in Sweida province, after disputes erupted between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes.

Israel has threatened to escalate its assaults if Syrian forces do not retreat from the south.

How did it begin?

Clashes began on Sunday between factions from the Druze religious minority and Bedouin tribes, who are Sunni Muslim, killing more than 100 people.

The two sides have a longstanding feud in Sweida.

Syrian government forces sent reinforcements to the region, in the country’s south, saying they want to reestablish security.

However, witnesses and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that on Monday, government forces and allied groups, including Bedouins, seized control of several villages near Sweida that were formerly under the control of Druze fighters.

Druze individuals from the Golan and Galilee gather near the ceasefire line, attempting to cross the demilitarized zone into Syria, close to the Majdal Shams village in the Golan Heights. Source: AAP / Atef Safadi / EPA

On Tuesday, following contacts between Damascus authorities and notables from Sweida, the Syrian defence ministry announced a ceasefire after government forces had entered the city.

Before then, Sweida, home to around 150,000 people, was controlled by various Druze factions.

Syria’s three main Druze spiritual leaders, who sometimes hold differing views on political issues, called on local fighters on Tuesday to lay down their arms.

But Hikmat al-Hijri, one of the leaders, then accused Syria of failing to uphold its commitment to enter Sweida peacefully and called for “resisting this brutal campaign by all available means”.

Terrified residents of Sweida have reported numerous abuses since the entry of government troops and their allies, including executions, looting and burning houses.

Army headquarters, area near presidential palace struck

On Wednesday, Israel said it struck the headquarters of the Syrian army in Damascus, a compound that also houses the defence ministry.

Witnesses told AFP they heard an explosion in the area of the presidential palace, where the Israeli military said it had struck a “military target”.

Syrian state television reported further Israeli strikes on the army headquarters compound, where a wing of the four-story building was destroyed.

The Syrian health ministry said at least three people were killed and 34 wounded in the strikes on Damascus.

People standing amid a large pile of rubble from a damaged building.

Civil defence workers inspect the Syrian defence ministry building after it was heavily damaged by Israeli airstrikes. Source: AAP / Ghaith Alsayed/AP

Attacks on Sweida

On Wednesday, the official Syrian news agency SANA announced an Israeli drone strike on Sweida.

The day before, the Israeli military said it had bombed “military vehicles of the regime forces in Sweida”.

On Monday, it struck several government tanks in the province.

Sweida province is home to the country’s largest Druze community, followers of an esoteric religion that split from Shi’ite Islam, who are mainly found in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, more than 300 people have been killed since Sunday in clashes between Druze fighters, Bedouin tribes and government forces, and in Israeli strikes.

The dead include 165 government forces but also 27 Druze civilians killed in “summary executions … by members of the defence and interior ministries”, the observatory said.

‘Powerful blows’

On Wednesday, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz demanded Syrian forces withdraw from the south.

He promised troops would “operate forcefully in Sweida to eliminate the forces that attacked the Druze until their full withdrawal”.

People arrive at al-Mouwasat Hospital after Israeli airstrikes on Damascus, Syria. Source: AAP / Ahmad Fallaha / EPA

Katz said “the signals to Damascus are over — now come the painful blows”, sharing Syrian television footage of an explosion in Damascus on his X account.

Syria said the Israeli strikes were a “dangerous escalation” and affirmed “its legitimate rights to defend its land and people”.

New government

Even though it has initiated contact with the new Syrian government, headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa, Israel still remains extremely wary of the Islamist-led administration.

Since December, when Sharaa’s group spearheaded an offensive that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against military sites in Syria, saying its goal was to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new government.

Israel also sent troops into the demilitarised buffer zone on the Golan Heights — part of which it has occupied from Syria since 1967 — and carried out incursions deeper into southern Syria.

Some 153,000 Druze live in Israel, where they are citizens, and, unlike other Israeli Arabs, are subject to compulsory military conscription.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces fired tear gas to prevent dozens of Druze from crossing the frontier.

US says agreement reached

United States secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Wednesday in a post on X that “we have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight”.

The European Union urged “all external actors” to fully respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, later demanding Israel “immediately cease” its strikes.

United Nations secretary-general António Guterres also condemned the Israeli airstrikes.