Zürcher Nachrichten - Israel bombs Syria army HQ after warning Damascus to leave Druze alone

Syrian government forces entered the majority-Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a ceasefire agreed with Druze community leaders after clashes with local Bedouin tribes left more than 100 people dead.

However, witnesses reported that the government forces joined with the Bedouin in attacking Druze fighters and civilians in a bloody rampage through the city.

The fighting marks the most serious outbreak of violence in Syria since government forces battled Druze fighters in Sweida province and near Damascus in April and May leaving more than 100 people dead.

The Islamist-led authorities have had strained relations with Syria's patchwork of religious and ethnic minorities since they toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called on Damascus to "leave the Druze in Sweida alone".

"As we have made clear and warned, Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarisation policy we have decided on," he said in a statement.

Syrian forces should withdraw, he added, and promised no let-up in Israeli military attacks until that happened, saying Israel would "raise the level of responses against the regime if the message is not understood".

Shortly afterwards, the Israeli military said it had hit Syria's military headquarters in Damascus.

"A short while ago, the (Israeli military) struck the entrance of the Syrian regime's military headquarters in the area of Damascus in Syria," it said in a statement.

Syrian state television reported that two people were wounded in central Damascus, without giving a more precise location.

- 'Existential battle' -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of forces of the Islamist-led government near territory it controls.

Israel said it was sending more troops to the armistice line between the occupied Golan Heights and Syrian-controlled territory.

"In accordance with the situational assessment, the (Israeli military) has decided to reinforce its forces in the area of the Syrian border," a statement said.

The head of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, called the situation "an existential battle for the Druze community".

According to the Observatory, witnesses and Druze armed groups, government forces took part in fighting alongside the Bedouin against the Druze.

Sporadic gunfire continued to ring out in the city on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent reported.

Columns of smoke were seen rising from several areas amid the sound of shelling.

The correspondent counted the bodies of around 30 combatants, some in plain clothes and some in military uniform.

The Suwayda 24 news website reported "intense shelling with heavy artillery and mortars" .

The Syrian defence ministry accused "outlaw groups" of attacking its forces inside the city, saying they are now "continuing to respond to the sources of fire".

- Death toll nears 250 -

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 248 people had been killed in Sweida province since the violence erupted on Sunday.

The Britain-based watchdog said 28 civilians were among 92 Druze killed, 21 of them "in summary executions by government forces".

At least 138 Syrian security personnel were killed, along with 18 allied Bedouin fighters, it added.

The Bedouin and the Druze have been at loggerheads for decades. The latest violence erupted after the kidnapping of a Druze vegetable merchant triggered tit-for-tat abductions, the Observatory said.

Since they toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria's Islamist authorities have been accused repeatedly of trampling over the rights of the country's religious and ethnic minorities.

Israel has presented itself as a defender of the Druze, although some analysts have said that is just a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping government forces as far from the border as possible.

burs/kir/dcp

E.Schneyder--NZN