Israel threatened to escalate attacks on Syrian government forces unless they withdrew from Sweida, a southern province dominated by the Druse minority.
Israel conducted airstrikes in Syria’s capital on Wednesday, including attacks on a compound housing the defense ministry and an area near the presidential palace, according to the Israeli military, Syrian authorities and a war monitoring group.
The strikes followed deadly clashes involving Syrian government forces in the southern region of Sweida, the heartland of the country’s Druse minority. Israel has pledged to protect Syria’s Druse, a minority group that also has a sizable population in Israel.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, threatened to intensify strikes on Syrian forces if they did not pull back from Sweida.
The escalating tensions between Israel and the Syrian government threatened to derail tentative steps recently toward warmer ties after decades of hostility.
The Assad dictatorship that previously ruled Syria was a close ally of Iran and a sworn enemy of Israel. The Islamist rebels who ousted it opened contacts with Israel, mediated by the United States, to try to lower tensions and stop Israeli military attacks on the country.
President Trump’s envoy to Syria, Thomas J. Barrack Jr., said he was making efforts to mediate and calm the situation in Sweida.