Israel strikes Syrian capital, sending warning to government

Armed Druze men sing and dance outside the offices of the Mountain Brigade, a Druze militia, in the southwestern Syrian province of Sweida on Jan. 15, 2025. Israel’s bombardment in central Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Wednesday followed days of deadly clashes involving Syrian government forces in Sweida, the heartland of the country’s Druze minority. (David Guttenfelder/The New York Times)

By Euan Ward and Aaron Boxerman

Israel launched deadly airstrikes on Syria’s capital Wednesday, damaging a compound housing the Defense Ministry and hitting an area near the presidential palace, according to the Israeli military and Syrian authorities.

The bombardment in central Damascus, the capital, followed days of deadly clashes involving Syrian government forces in the southern region of Sweida, the heartland of the country’s Druze minority.

The Israeli government, which has pledged to protect that minority, warned Wednesday that it would intensify strikes if Syrian government forces did not withdraw from the region, a strategically important province near Israel and Jordan. Israeli officials have said previously that they want to prevent any hostile forces in Syria from entrenching near their borders.

The escalating tensions between Israel and the Syrian government threaten to derail their tentative steps toward warmer ties after decades of hostility. Syria’s new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa — a former Islamist rebel leader — has tried to stabilize the country since overthrowing dictator Bashar Assad in December. He has also forged closer relations with the United States.

Assad was a loyal ally of Iran and a sworn enemy of Israel. But the rebels who ousted him have opened contacts with Israel in recent months, mediated by the United States, in a bid to lower cross-border tensions.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a statement Wednesday, described the violence as “a direct threat to efforts to help build a peaceful and stable Syria,” adding that Washington was in talks with both Israel and Syria on the issue.

The clashes in recent days marked Sweida’s deadliest spell of unrest in recent memory. More than 200 people have been killed in four days, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain.

Electricity and internet outages are widespread. Hospitals are facing shortages in medical supplies. Many civilians are unable to flee and sheltering at home.

The fighting in Sweida erupted Sunday after armed members of a Bedouin tribe attacked and robbed a Druze man along a main highway, the observatory said. As the unrest escalated, al-Sharaa’s government deployed its military forces to the province Monday to quell the conflict, Syrian officials said.

But given deep-seated mistrust of the new government, some members of Druze militias in Sweida thought that the government forces were coming to aid the Bedouins and to attack the Druze, according to Druze militia leaders.

A ceasefire announced Tuesday broke down, and clashes erupted again Wednesday between Syrian government forces and Druze fighters in Sweida.

The latest flare-up of unrest in Syria underscored the deep challenges Damascus faces in trying to reassert authority across a country still fractured by a complex web of armed groups left over from the nearly 14-year civil war.

Despite assurances from Syria’s new leadership, many of the country’s religious and ethnic minorities remain skeptical of al-Sharaa, who once led a rebel group that pledged fealty to al-Qaida.

The Israeli airstrikes in the capital Wednesday caused “extensive” damage in the heart of Damascus, according to the observatory, sending thick plumes of smoke rising above the skyline. At least one civilian was killed and 18 were injured, according to Syria’s Health Ministry.

Syrians described scenes of chaos as Israeli fighter jets pierced the capital’s sky, raining down missiles as workers sat at their desks or commuted.

“We were inside the ministry when the first airstrike hit,” said Abu Musab, 30, an employee at the Defense Ministry. “Then a second strike followed. Later, the aircraft came back and carried out four strikes in a row,” he added.

“There are still people trapped under the rubble,” he said.

The Israeli military attacked the Syrian military’s general staff compound where it said Syrian commanders were directing government forces in Sweida. The Defense Ministry is housed in the same complex.

Israeli strikes also targeted an area near the presidential palace in Damascus, the president’s seat of power, the military said.

Israel also struck near the Damascus palace in May during a previous bout of sectarian violence involving the Syrian Druze.

An Israeli military official told reporters that Israel was conducting dozens of airstrikes against Syrian forces in Sweida — including targeting Syrian soldiers. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comply with military protocol, said Israel was acting to prevent a buildup of hostile forces near its borders, as well as to prevent attacks on Druze civilians.

Shortly after the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus, Syrian authorities announced that a new ceasefire had been reached in Sweida.

The agreement, which the country’s Interior Ministry said had been brokered with local leaders in Sweida, called for an “immediate and comprehensive cessation of all military operations,” the reestablishment of state authority in the area and the integration of the region into the Syrian state.