JERUSALEM: A Syrian Interior Ministry source said Israeli drone strikes targeted government security forces, killing one of their members, in the mainly Druze town of Sahnaya on Damascus’ outskirts.

Israel confirmed that it carried out a strike in Syria following sectarian clashes that occurred between forces linked to Syria’s new authorities and Druze fighters spread near Damascus, leaving 13 people dead, according to state media and a Syrian war monitor.

The attack appeared Israel’s first military action in Syrian Druze region since Bashar al-Assad was toppled, reflecting its deep mistrust of the new Syrian authorities who replaced him and posing a further challenge to interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s efforts to establish control over the fractured nation.

The Druze adhere to a faith that is an offshoot of Islam and have followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said “a message was passed on to the Syrian regime — Israel expects it to act in order to prevent harm to the Druze,” they said. Since Assad was ousted in December, Israel has seized ground in the southwest, vowed to protect the Druze, lobbied Washington to keep the neighbouring state weak, and blown up much of the Syrian army’s heavy weapons in the days after he was toppled.

Sharaa, who was an Al Qaeda commander before renouncing ties to the group in 2016, has repeatedly vowed to govern Syria in an inclusive way.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2025