CAIRO, July 16. /TASS/. The Israeli army has carried out a strike on the Presidential Palace in the Syrian capital of Damascus, Syria TV reported. According to earlier reports, the Syrian Army General Staff building in downtown Damascus came under fire.

TASS has gathered the key information about these developments.

Statements by Israeli Defense Ministry

- Israel demands the Syrian authorities withdraw troops from the area near Suwayda in the country’s south, which is populated by the Druze; otherwise, the Israeli army will continue to strike Syrian government forces in the region, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

- According to him, the Israel Defense Forces will intensify its operations "against the Syrian regime if the message is not understood."

- Katz said later that Israel believed the time was over for warnings to Damascus regarding the situation around the Druze, and now, "painful strikes" on Syrian forces could begin.

Consequences of strikes

- An Israeli drone attacked the city of Suwayda in southern Syria, leaving several Syrian service members injured, Sham TV reported.

- According to the broadcaster, the drone strike targeted the Syrian army’s military equipment; no accurate date is available on damage and casualties among troops.

- The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), however, claims that only civilians suffered injuries in the drone attack.

- Later, the Israeli army attacked the buildings of the Syrian Army General Staff in the Damascus area, the military stated.

- According to the statement, the strike hit the entrance to the General Staff compound.

- Later, Sham TV reported additional strikes on the Syrian capital.

- After that, Syria TV reported a strike on the Presidential Palace in Damascus.

Border situation

- Hundreds of people broke into Syrian territory through border barriers between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, Syrian television said.

- According to Sky News Arabia, the people broke into Syria are members of the Druze community seeking to support their kinsmen in the Syrian city of Suwayda.

- The broadcaster notes that the Israeli authorities have deployed additional border guard units to secure the area.

Reasons behind escalating tensions

- Since the 2024 change of government in Damascus, the Israeli authorities have repeatedly voiced their support for the Druze in the neighboring country, expressing willingness to assist their self-defense efforts in the face of potential instability.

- The Druze is an Arabic-speaking ethnic and religious group residing in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.

- Syria has 700,000 Druze, who are the country’s third largest ethnic and religious minority after the Kurds and the Alawites.

- On July 15, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz released a joint statement, saying that they had ordered the army to attack the forces deployed to the city of Suwayda as part of Israeli support for the Druze.