Israel said it had also struck a “military target” in the area of the presidential palace, while a Syrian interior ministry source reported strikes outside the capital in “the vicinity of the Mazzeh (military) airport”.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called on Damascus to “leave the Druze in Sweida alone”, and threatened to unleash “painful blows” until government forces pulled back.
Syria’s foreign ministry slammed the attacks as a “dangerous escalation”, while Israel’s military chief insisted his forces were “acting with responsibility, restraint and sound judgment”.
The Syrian health ministry said that at least three people were killed and 34 wounded in the strikes on Damascus.
HALT TO SWEIDA OPERATIONS
Announcing the new ceasefire on Wednesday, Syria’s interior ministry said there would be a “total and immediate halt to all military operations”, as well as the formation of a committee comprising government representatives and Druze spiritual leaders to supervise its implementation.
An AFP correspondent in Sweida, however, reported hearing gunfire in the city even after the announcement.
In a video carried by state television, Sheikh Youssef Jarboua, one of Syria’s main Druze spiritual leaders, read out the 10 points of the accord, which also includes “the full integration of the province” of Sweida into the Syrian state.
Until now, Druze areas have been controlled by fighters from the minority community.
The latest fighting was the most serious outbreak of violence in Syria since government forces battled Druze fighters in Sweida province and near Damascus in April and May, leaving more than 100 people dead.
The clashes between the Bedouin and the Druze that first prompted the government deployment were triggered by the kidnapping of a Druze vegetable merchant, according to the Observatory. The two groups have been at loggerheads for decades.
The Islamist authorities have had strained relations with Syria’s patchwork of religious and ethnic minorities, and have been repeatedly accused of not doing enough to protect them.
