The Syrian Ministry of Defense is striking Israel as clashes between the government and the reduction

Damascus, Syria (AP) – The Israeli military started rare air raids in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday and hit the headquarters of the Syrian Ministry of Defense when the collisions in the southern Syrian city of Sweida continue to flicker.

The attack of Israel came to the same building hours after a drone attack. Syrian state media reported at least 13 wounded people. Another strike met near the presidential palace in the hills outside of Damascus.

As clashes in the southern Syrian city of Sweida romp between Syrian city of Sweida Government troops and druze armed groupsIsrael has brought dozens of strikes onto the market that are directed against government troops and convoys, which supports the support of the religious minority group, and has sworn to escalate their participation.

The escalating violence seems to be the most serious threat to the ability of the new rulers Syria to consolidate control over the country after a rebel offensive, led by Islamist groups in December, displaced the long-time despotic leader Bashar Assad and ended an end of an almost 14-year civil war.

The Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said after the air raid in a position on X that the “painful blows started”. An Israeli military officer who spoke in accordance with the regulations on the condition of anonymity said the army was preparing for a variety of scenarios, and a brigade that usually included thousands of soldiers was pulled from Gaza and sent to the Golanhöhe.

The Syria's Ministry of Defense had previously held the militias in the field of the Druze majority of Sweida Give back fire. It was said that they had “captured the rules of commitment to protect the residents, prevent damage and the safe return of those who left the city back to their houses”.

In the meantime, reports on attacks on civilians continue to dive and Därzen with family members in the conflict zone, according to information about their fate in the middle of communication spread.

The mainly Sunni Muslim leaders suspected religious and ethnic minorities, whose fears were confused in March after collapse between state forces and pro-assadic groups in March. Hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority, to which Assad belongs, were killed.

Druse fear for the life of her relatives in Sweida

In Jaramana near the Syrian capital, Evelyn Azzam, 20, said she fears that her husband Robert Kiwan (23) is dead. The newlyweds live in the suburb of Damascus, but Kiwan commuted to Sweida every morning and was caught there when the clashes broke out.

Azzam said she was by phone with Kiwan when the security forces asked him and a colleague about whether they were connected to Druze militias. When her husband's colleague raised his voice, she heard a shot. Kiwan was then shot while trying to appeal.

“They shot my husband on my hips what I could gather,” she said, trying to hold back tears. “The ambulance took him to the hospital. Since then we have had no idea what happened.”

A Syrian Drusen from Sweida, who lived in the United Arab Emirates, said her mother, her father and sister had hid in a basement in her house near the hospital, where they could hear the sound of fire and balls from outside. She spoke of the fear of anonymity out of fear that her family will be targeted.

She had tried to seize her, but when she reached her, she said: “I heard her cry. I've never heard her that way.”

Another Drusefrau, who lived in the VAE with family members in Sweida, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a cousin told her that a house in which her relatives lived was burned with everyone in it.

It reminded her when the extremist group of the Islamic State of Sweida attacked in 2018, she said. Her uncle was there among many civilians who took weapons to defend themselves while Assad's armed forces stood aside. He was killed in the fights.

“It is the same at the moment,” she told the Associated Press. The Druze fighters, she said, are “only people who protect their province and their families”.

The druze religious sect began as an offshoot of the 10th century Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the approximately 1 million druze worldwide lives in Syria. Most other druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golanheights, which Israel captured from Syria in the Midose war of 1967 and annexed in 1981.

Reports about murders and looting in Druze areas

The latest escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat draft and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and drank armed factions in the southern province.

The state forces that were received in order to restore order then collided with the druze.

Videos appeared on the social media of state-related fighters, which violently shave the mustaches of the Druze-Sheikhs, and appear on druze flags and pictures of religious clergymen. Other videos showed that Druze fighter beat the captive government troops and posed by their corpses. AP reporters in the area saw burnt and looted houses.

Since Monday, when the Syrian Ministry of the Interior said 30 people had been killed, no official number of victims have been published since Monday. The war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Great Britain, said that more than 250 people had been killed from Wednesday morning, including four children, five women and 138 soldiers and security forces.

The observatory said at least 21 people were killed in “field executions”.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa made an explanation on Wednesday and condemned the violations.

“Under no circumstances can these criminals and illegal acts be accepted and contradict the principles on which the Syrian state is built,” according to the explanation that perpetrators “whether by individuals or organizations outside the law, are legally held accountable, and we will never allow this to happen without punishment.”

Drusen in the Golan gathered along the border fence to protest against the violence against Druze in Syria.

Israel threatens to scale his intervention

In Israel, the Drusen are viewed as a loyal minority and often serve in the military. In Syria, the druze were divided into how to deal with the new leaders of the country, and some campaigned for integration into the new system, while others remained suspicious and pushed into an autonomous druze region.

On Wednesday, Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said in a statement that the Israeli army would continue to attack the regime staff until they withdraw from the region – and soon the reactions against the regime will increase if the message is not understood. “

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a declaration on Tuesday evening that Israel “has an obligation to maintain the southwestern region of Syria as a demilitarized area on Israel's border and is” obliged to protect the glands -locals “.

Israel has taken an aggressive attitude towards the new leaders of Syria since autumn and said that Islamist militants did not want to be near his borders. The Israeli armed forces confiscated an unpatolled buffer zone in the Syrian area along the border to the Golan heights and launched hundreds of air strikes at military sites in Syria.

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Chehayeb reported by Beirut. Associated Press Writers Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.