Israel launches deadly strikes across Syria after warning of action to defend Druze

Offensive comes hours after Israeli military hit area near presidential palace in Damascus

An aerial view of the Syrian presidential palace in Damascus. Israel carried out an air strike near the area on Friday. AFP

Israel carried out strikes across Syria overnight into Saturday, including in the countryside of Damascus, Deraa and Hama provinces.

The offensive killed at least one civilian in Harasta near the capital, and wounded four people near the village of Shatha in Hama, Syrian state news agency Sana reported.

Residents said they heard loud explosions and low-flying warplanes throughout the night in several governorates.

Israel is intensifying its attacks in Syria and has warned of further action if the Islamist-led authorities fail to halt sectarian violence against the Druze sect, an offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

The overnight strikes are the latest escalation since rebels ousted former Syrian president Bashar Al Assad in December.

The Israeli military said it had attacked a military site, anti-aircraft guns and ground-to-air missile infrastructure in Syria using fighter jets. It added that its forces "will continue to operate as necessary to protect the citizens of the state of Israel".

In the early hours of Friday, Israel struck an area near the presidential palace in Damascus, calling it “a clear message to the Syrian regime".

“We will not allow [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement.

Syria's authorities denounced the bombing as a “dangerous escalation”.

Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has been conducting military operations in Syria, seizing land in the south-west and carrying out hundreds of strikes that have destroyed much of the Syrian army’s strategic weapons stockpiles.

Israel has also demanded the complete demilitarisation of much of southern Syria.

It has expressed distrust towards Syria’s new authorities, led by President Ahmad Al Shara, a former Al Qaeda commander-turned-statesman, who has pledged to govern the fractured country inclusively and unify all Syrian armed forces under a single command structure.

The Israeli military said its forces were deployed in southern Syria to prevent the return of hostile forces into mainly Druze villages. The army “continues to monitor developments with readiness for defence and various scenarios”, it said.

It added that five Syrian-Druze citizens were evacuated to receive medical treatment in Israel after sustaining injuries in Syria.

This comes after days of sectarian violence, which started on Tuesday in Druze areas in the Damascus region and in southern Syria.

Sunni gunmen clashed with Druze fighters. The violence killed at least 109 people, including 30 government loyalists, 26 Druze fighters and 11 civilians, among them Sahnaya’s former mayor and his son, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor.

The fighting was sparked by a voice recording insulting the Prophet Mohammed, which Sunni militants accused the Druze of creating.

In the southern province of Suwayda, 42 Druze gunmen were killed in an “ambush” on the Suwayda-Damascus road on Wednesday, it said.