[Source: Reuters]

Israel said it carried out a strike in Syria against “an extremist group” that attacked members of the Druze community, following through on a promise to defend the minority group as deadly sectarian violence spread near Damascus on Wednesday.

A Syrian Foreign Ministry statement rejected “all forms of foreign intervention” in Syria’s internal affairs, without mentioning Israel, and declared Syria’s commitment to protecting all Syrian groups “including the noble Druze sect.”

It marks the first time Israel had announced a military strike in support of Syrian Druze since Bashar al-Assad was toppled, reflecting its deep mistrust of the Sunni Islamists who replaced him and posing a further challenge to interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s efforts to establish control over the fractured nation.

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

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 the Israeli military had carried out “a warning operation and struck an extremist group” as it prepared to continue an attack on Druze in Sahnaya.

“At the same time, 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 has 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. But incidents of sectarian violence, including the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, have hardened fears among minority groups about the now dominant Islamists.

The sectarian violence began on Tuesday with clashes between Druze and Sunni gunmen in the predominantly Druze area of Jaramana. It was ignited by a voice recording cursing the Prophet Mohammad and which the Sunni militants suspected was made by a Druze. More than a dozen people were reported killed on Tuesday, before the violence spread to Sahnaya on Wednesday.

In a statement on state news agency SANA, the director of security for the Damascus countryside said a ceasefire was reached in Jaramana but outlaws had escalated attacks in the Sahnaya area on Wednesday, killing 16 members of the security forces.

Security sources said hundreds of Interior Ministry security forces deployed in and around Sahnaya following an agreement with Druze elders. Residents said the situation had largely calmed after intense fighting, with only sporadic gunfire heard.

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