Monday, 25 May 2026
Smoke rises from a building after strikes at Syria's defense ministry in Damascus, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS
Israel bombs Damascus amid escalating clashes in southern Syria
DAMASCUS/JERUSALEM – A series of intense airstrikes rocked Damascus on Wednesday, striking the defense ministry after Israel pledged to crush Syrian government forces targeting the Druze minority in southern Syria and issued demands for their withdrawal.
Reuters correspondents reported that warplanes thundered over the capital, launching powerful attacks that shook central Damascus. Thick clouds of smoke engulfed the city, with a dense plume rising from the area around the defense ministry.
Israel made no immediate public statement regarding the afternoon attacks, which Syrian state media attributed to Israeli forces.
Earlier, the Israeli military announced it had targeted the gate of the defense ministry. Just before the powerful explosions, Defence Minister Israel Katz had warned of “painful blows.”
Deadly violence has engulfed the southern city of Sweida this week, with battles raging between Druze fighters, government security forces, and armed Bedouin tribesmen. Israel has repeatedly launched strikes, declaring its intent to defend the Druze community.
“We’re surrounded, and we can hear fighters shouting... we’re terrified,” said one Sweida resident, a Druze-majority city, who spoke by phone on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.
Gunfire and explosions echoed in the background. “We’re trying to keep the children quiet so no one will hear us,” the resident added.
The escalating conflict poses significant challenges for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, even as he works to mend relations with the United States and unite a deeply divided Syria where suspicion lingers among groups opposed to Islamist governance.
Syrian government troops were deployed to the Sweida region on Monday to quell fighting between Druze militias and Bedouin fighters but ended up clashing directly with Druze forces.
The Druze are adherents of a religious sect stemming from Islam, found across Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. Druze leaders in Israel have publicly urged Israeli intervention to protect their Syrian counterparts.
On Tuesday, a Druze spiritual leader described the government’s campaign as a “barbaric attack” on his community, while Syrian authorities blamed the violence on banned criminal groups.
Security officials within Syria’s defense ministry told Reuters that at least two drone attacks had struck the ministry building, prompting officers to take cover in the basement. State-owned Elekhbariya TV reported that two civilians were wounded in the strikes.
The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted “the entrance gate of the Syrian regime’s military headquarters complex” in Damascus.
Israel also continued airstrikes on “Syrian regime” targets in the south, hitting tanks and pickup trucks armed with machine guns moving toward Sweida.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported 169 people killed in this week’s clashes. Security sources gave a higher estimate of 300, figures that Reuters could not independently verify.