Violence erupted in the predominantly Druze city of Suweida on Sunday, two days after a Druze merchant was reportedly abducted while travelling by road to Damascus. On Tuesday, after two days of the deadly clashes, Israel said it had bombed Syrian government forces around Suweida. Syrian forces have been accused of also attacking the Druze. The government has not responded to then specific allegations, but has condemned the attacks on Druze people and said its troops are there to restore order.
IDF confirms it carried out strike near presidential palace. Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered strikes on forces and weapons in the area because the government “intended to use [them] against the Druze”. Syria has condemned Israel’s involvement. At least 200 people have been killed since the clashes started on Sunday, the UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. Israeli strikes have killed one civilian and injured 18 more people in Damascus, according to an update from the Syrian health ministry. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it targeted the area around Syria’s presidential palace in strikes earlierIn a post on social media, the IDF says “a military target was struck in the area of the Syrian regime’s Presidential Palace in the Damascus area”. It also confirmed Syria’s defence ministry headquarters was hit in the attacks on the capital. Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned he would not “tolerate any threat to the Druze community in southern Syria” from the country’s new security forces. He also demanded the complete demilitarisation of much of the south, saying Israel saw Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as a threat.
NN: War is breaking out all over. Peace is the illusion of our time. Bet on war and plan for oil supply disruptions..