The UN Calls on Israel to Halt Its Attacks in Syria

The UN called on Israel to "immediately" cease its attacks in neighboring Syria after an escalation of strikes that followed sectarian clashes.

One of the strikes targeted an area near the presidential palace in Damascus on Friday. Israel referred to it as a "clear message sent to the Syrian regime" following attacks against the Druze minority, which Israeli leaders have supported.

The Syrian presidency reacted by calling it a "dangerous escalation," reiterating President Ahmad al-Chareh's commitment to protect all communities, including the Druze, who are from a branch of Shia Islam.

The violence highlights the ongoing instability in Syria, nearly five months after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad on December 8 by a coalition of radical Islamist rebels led by Ahmad al-Chareh, who has since become the interim president.

The fall of Mr. Assad came after approximately 14 years of civil war in Syria, during which Israel conducted hundreds of strikes against Syrian government targets and its allies, Iran and Hezbollah. Today, Israel views the new authorities in Damascus, which emerged from jihadist factions, with deep suspicion.

"I strongly condemn the ongoing and increasing violations of Syria's sovereignty by Israel, including the multiple strikes in Damascus and other cities," stated the UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, in a statement. He demanded that "these attacks cease immediately and that Israel stop endangering Syrian civilians and respect international law."

The strikes intensified further after sectarian violence earlier in the week near Damascus between armed groups linked to the regime and Druze fighters, resulting in over 100 deaths according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

On Saturday before dawn, more than 20 strikes targeted military sites in Syria, described as "the most violent" this year by the NGO.

The official Syrian agency Sana reported that a civilian was killed in one of the strikes, which according to the Israeli army targeted military infrastructures.

Fighting in Jaramana and Sahnaya, near Damascus, where Druze and Christians reside, and in Sweida (south), was sparked by an attack from regime-affiliated armed groups after an audio message attributed to a Druze was deemed blasphemous towards the Prophet Muhammad.

A precarious calm was restored on Wednesday following agreements between Druze representatives and the regime. Government troops were deployed in Sahnaya, and security was heightened around Jaramana.

Syrian authorities have blamed uncontrollable elements for the fighting.

According to Andreas Krieg, a security specialist in the Middle East at King's College London, "Israel seeks to utilize the Druze community, as it has done with the Kurds and other minorities, to weaken or destabilize its Arab neighbors."

"Israel is clearly using (the defense of the Druze community) as a sort of pretext to justify its military occupation of certain parts of Syria," he believes.

On Saturday, Israel reiterated that its army was deployed in southern Syria without specifying where exactly. It claimed that its forces were "prepared to prevent the entry of hostile forces into Druze villages."

"Their presence would be limited to the Quneitra province (on the Golan Heights), where they established positions after Assad's fall," said a local Druze official in Sweida to AFP.

Israel, technically in a state of war with Syria, has occupied part of the Syrian Golan since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Following Mr. Assad's fall, Israel announced the deployment of its army in the demilitarized buffer zone of the Golan, on the edge of the occupied part of that plateau.

After the establishment of a government in Damascus led by Islamists, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded "the total demilitarization of southern Syria" to "counter any threat" against his country.

On Saturday, its sworn enemies, Iran and Hezbollah, condemned the Israeli strikes in Syria, with Tehran accusing Israel of trying to "destroy Syria's defense capabilities."