BBC News: Israel’s military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus and government forces in southern Syria on Wednesday, as deadly sectarian fighting in the mostly Druze province of Suweida continued for a fourth day.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its forces were “working to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the regime’s gangs”. The Syrian foreign ministry accused Israel of “treacherous aggression”.
More than 300 people are reported to have been killed in Suweida since Sunday, when clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes erupted.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was “very worried” about the violence in the south but believed it would end within hours.
“We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight,” he wrote on X on Wednesday evening.
Syria’s foreign ministry said the country “welcomes the efforts made by the US and Arabian sides” to “resolve the current crisis” peacefully.
Israel has not yet commented on the ceasefire bid.
Syrian troops have started to withdraw from Suweida, according to Syria’s state news agency Sana.
It says the military is leaving the city as part of an agreement between the Syrian government and the Suweida’s religious leaders, following the “completion of the army’s pursuit of outlaw groups”.
The Israeli military began striking Syrian security forces and their weapons on Monday, after they were deployed to the city of Suweida for the first time since Sunni Islamist-led rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December.
Minority groups including the Druze – whose religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs – are suspicious of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his government, despite his pledges to protect them.
Their fears have been heightened by several outbreaks of sectarian violence over the past eight months, including one in May in which dozens of people were reportedly killed in clashes between Druze, security forces, and allied Islamist fighters in Damascus and Suweida.
In the wake of that fighting, the government reached an agreement with Druze militias to hire local security forces in Suweida province from their ranks.
Netanyahu has said he is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria because of their deep ties to those living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon that “the warnings in Damascus” had ended and that the Israeli military would “continue to operate vigorously in Suweida to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until they withdraw completely”.
