ReutersIsraeli forces attacked the Syrian Ministry of Defense on Wednesday on Syrian and Syrian government forces in southern Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the forces are “working to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the gangs in the administration.” Syrian Foreign Ministry has denounced Israel for “dangerous attacks.”
More than 300 people have been reportedly killed in Swaida since Sunday. This was when a clash broke out between the Druze militia and the Bedouin people.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was “very worried” about violence in the South, but believed it would be over within hours.
“We have agreed to a specific step to end this troublesome and horrifying situation tonight,” he wrote to X on Wednesday evening.
Syrian Foreign Ministry said the country peacefully “welcomes the efforts made by the US and Arabian sides” to “resolve the current crisis.”
Israel has not yet commented on the ceasefire bid.
According to Sana, the Syrian state news agency, Syrian troops have begun to withdraw from Svaida.
It says the military is leaving the city as part of an agreement between the Syrian government and the religious leaders of Svayda following the “completion of the Army's outlaws.”
Israeli forces began attacking Syrian security forces and their weapons on Monday after they were deployed in Svaida city for the first time since Sunni Islamic-led rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December.
Minority groups, including Druze, a Shia Islamic derivative whose religion has its own identity and belief, doubt interim president Ahmed Alsharaa and his government despite pledging to protect them.
Their fear has been heightened by several outbreaks of sectarian violence over the past eight months. This reportedly killed one in May, when dozens were reportedly killed in clashes between Damascus and Svaida's Douz, security forces and allied Islamic fighters.
The fight led the government to reach an agreement with the Druze militia and to hire local security forces in Swaida from their ranks.
Netanyahu said he is committed to preventing harm to the Syrian Druze due to his deep ties between the people living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote to X on Wednesday afternoon that “the Damascus warning is over,” and that Israeli forces will “wield violently in Sweida and destroy the troops attacking Druze until they fully retreat.”
He later posted, “The painful blow started.” Above the video clip showed a television presenter diving under the camera desk as an Israeli air attack hit an entrance near the Syrian Ministry of Defense in Umayyad Square in central Damascus.
Fadi al-Harabi, a London-based Syrian filmmaker visiting Damascus, said he was nearby when he heard of the Israeli fighter approach.
“The faces of the people were very scared. Everyone started running in the streets. No one knew where to go. Suddenly, an air attack started, targeting some of the busiest areas, including the Ministry of Defense,” he told the BBC.
Israeli forces also attacked “regional military targets” at the capital's presidential palace, armored vehicles loaded with heavy machine guns and weapons on their way to Svaida, as well as shooting and weapons storage facilities in southern Syria.
Syrian Foreign Ministry said the strike targeted government agencies and private facilities in Damascus and Svaida, killing “several innocent civilians.”
“Attacks that form part of the intentional policies pursued by Israeli entities and part of the intentional policies pursued by Israeli entities to undermine Syria's security and stability constitute a blatant violation of the UN Charter and international humanitarian law.”
Meanwhile, the Syrian Human Rights Observation (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, reported that the humanitarian situation in Swaida has rapidly deteriorated.
Sources said there were conflicts in several areas of the city, causing tanks to attack the national hospital, causing panic between the scores of victims from the combat being handled there. They also said there was an acute shortage of water and medical supplies.
The Syrian Ministry of Health later said government forces had entered the hospital, and according to the official SANA communications agency, “dozens of bodies” were found after “the outlaw group retreated.”
A man named Hosam told the BBC that he was in the heart of Svaida City and witnessed civilians fired from artillery and snipers.
“I lost a neighbor on the street today. One of the snipers shot him. We tried to take him to the hospital (to get it), but we couldn't,” he said.
Thor says more than 300 people have been killed in Svaida since Sunday.
According to the group, it includes 69 Druze fighters and 40 civilians, of which 27 were immediately killed by forces from the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense.
At least 165 members of government forces and 18 Bedouin tribe fighters were also killed in the clashes, but 10 members of government forces were killed in Israel's strike.
The BBC is unable to verify the figures of SOHR victims.
ReutersThe battle between the Bedouin tribes of Svaida and the Druze militia was said to have been caused by the acquiring of Druze merchants on the highway to Damascus last Friday.
On Sunday, the armed Druze fighter jet reportedly surrounded and later seized the neighborhood in Svaida, where Bedouin lives. The clashes soon spread to other parts of Svaida, with the tribes reportedly launching attacks in nearby Druze towns and villages.
Syrian Interior Ministry later announced that its forces and the Defense Ministry's troops would intervene and impose order, saying “the dangerous escalation comes in light of the absence of relevant public bodies.”
Earlier this year, the Israeli Prime Minister called for the full demilitarization of Svaida and two other southern provinces. He said Israel saw Hayat Taharil al-Sham (HTS), the Sunni Muslim group of President Shara, as a threat. HTS is still designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and the UK, but it is no longer in the United States.
Since the collapse of Assad's regime, Israeli forces have already carried out hundreds of strikes across Syria to destroy the country's military assets.
And it sent troops to the unsupervised, unarmed buffer zone between the occupied Golan Heights and Syria, as well as several adjacent areas and the summit of Mount Harmon.