Amid the brewing tensions in West Asia, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) confirmed that the country’s fighter jets struck near the Syrian Presidential Palace in Damascus. The palace is currently the official residence of Syria’s Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa. The air force of the Jewish nation struck the Syrian targets on Friday morning.

Israel has been warning the Syrian authorities not to march towards villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria. It is pertinent to note that the Friday strike came days after clashes erupted between pro-Syrian government gunmen and fighters who belong to the Druze minority sect near the capital, Damascus. The brawl left dozens of people dead or wounded in the region.

In the statement, the IDF said that the fighter jets struck adjacent to the area of the Palace of President Hussein al-Sharaa in Damascus. No further details were provided in this regard. Meanwhile, a pro-government Syrian news outlet noted that the jets struck close to the People’s Palace on a hill overlooking the city.

Netanyahu and Katz react to the strikes

Shortly after the reports of the strikes started emerging, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement. “This is a clear message to the Syrian regime. We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community,” they said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the US Department of State also condemned violence against Syria’s Druze community, urging the interim government to hold the perpetrators accountable for their acts. “The recent violence and inflammatory rhetoric targeting members of the Druze community in Syria is reprehensible and unacceptable,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce says in a statement.

Sheikh Muafak Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, together with Yisrael Beytenu Minister of Knesset Hamad Amar, called on the Druze demonstrators in Syria to clear roads and return to their homes. They called for peace in the region.

The Druze religious sect is a minority in Syria that came into existence as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. Tensions between the community and the Syrian authorities erupted after an audio recording circulated online insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Though Druze cleric Marwan Kiwan denied making the recording, the incident led to widespread violence.