PM Netanyahu Admits Israel Attacked Targets Near Syria's Presidential Palace

JAKARTA - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, Israel attacked targets on the deka of the Syrian presidential palace, reaffirming its promise to protect members of the Druze community.

This marks Israel's second time attacking Syria in days, following up on promises to defend minority groups, who were involved in sectarian violence against Sunni gunmen earlier this week.

"Israel attacked last night near the presidential palace in Damascus," Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Israeli Defense Minister Katz.

"This is a clear message to the Syrian regime: We will not allow troops (Syria) to deploy in the south of Damascus or any threats to the Druze community," he said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said in a statement it attacked "close to the Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa Palace area in Damascus", without specifying its targets.

Separately, there was no immediate comment from the Syrian authorities.

Druze adheres to a religion that is a branch of Islam, has followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

The attack reflects Israel's deep distrust of the Sunni Islamist group that toppled Bashar al-Assad in December, which poses further challenges to the interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's efforts to establish control over the divided country.

Since Assad was ousted in December, Israel has seized territory in the southwest, vowing to protect Druze, lobbying Washington to keep neighboring countries weak, and has detonated most of the heavy weapons of the Syrian army in the days after he was ousted.

Sharaa, who was the commander of al Qaeda before cutting ties with the group in 2016, has repeatedly vowed to rule Syria inclusively.

However, an incident of sectarian violence, including the killing of hundreds of Alawi people in March, has seen fears among minority groups about Islamists who are now dominant.

This week's sectarian violence began on Tuesday with clashes between armed people Druze and Sunni in the Jaramana area where the majority of the population is Druze, which was sparked by a voice recording condemning the Prophet Muhammad and allegedly made by Sunni militants by Druze.

More than a dozen people were reported killed on Tuesday, before violence spread to the city of Sahnaya, most of whose population was Druze on the outskirts of Damascus on Wednesday.