Israeli air strikes hit Damascus on Wednesday, reportedly targeting the Syrian defence ministry, military headquarters and the vicinity of the presidential palace.
Footage released on local TV showed an explosion in central Damascus, with huge plumes of smoke enveloping the area around Umayyad Square.
The Syrian state news agency SANA said, citing the country’s health ministry, that one person hadbeen killed and 18 others injured in the attacks.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz posted footage of the bombing on X, writing: “heavy blows have started”.
SANA, Syria’s state news agency, also said Israel struck targets in the southwestern province of Daraa.
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On Sunday, clashes broke out between Syrian government forces and members of the Druze minority in Sweida, a Druze-majority southern province.
Since the new government, led by former rebel Ahmad al-Sharaa, took power in December, Israel has repeatedly struck Syrian military targets, sometimes in response to tensions with the Druze, which it claims it seeks to protect.
The latest deadly clashes in Sweida have prompted further Israeli bombing, though the strikes on central Damascus are a serious escalation.
The Israeli army said it was preparing for several days of fighting in Syria and would withdraw forces from the Gaza Strip and divert them northwards to protect the border.
Turkey’s foreign ministry condemned the Israeli attacks, saying they were an attempt to “sabotage” the country’s recovery after 14 years of war.
LIVE: Damascus skyline after Israeli strikes target Syrian defence ministry https://t.co/sBEEQrlPso
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) July 16, 2025
“The Syrian people have a historic opportunity to live in peace and integrate with the world,” the foreign ministry said.
“All stakeholders who support this opportunity should contribute to the Syrian government’s efforts to establish peace.”
The Israeli army said that several hundred Druze citizens of Israel had crossed the border into Syria on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to support Syrians from their community.
It added that it was working to return them to Israel, and that it had successfully barred Syrian Druze from entering the country via the Hader area of southern Syria.
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On Tuesday, the spiritual leaders of the Druze community said in a written statement that it would allow Syrian government forces to enter Sweida city to stop the violence, which has so far killed almost 250 people according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The statement called for armed groups to surrender their weapons and cooperate with incoming troops.
But just hours later, Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri released a video statement in which he said the initial statement had been “imposed” on them and accused the government of bombarding the city with artillery.
Since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December, the government has struggled to pull together disparate factions and communities across the war-torn country.
Sweida and its Druze largely managed to stay out of the Syrian civil war and maintain some degree of independence even under Assad’s authoritarian rule.
In December, Hijri told Middle East Eye that he was looking forward to working with the new authorities and condemned the Israeli attacks and invasion that had been prompted by Assad’s ouster.
Late on Wednesday, Al-Jazeera reported that an agreement had been reached to cease fire in Sweida, but it remains to be seen whether it will be implemented.
