Israel has bombed the Syria’s Ministry of Defense headquarters in Damascus, launching multiple airstrikes, three of which targeted areas near the presidential palace in the capital.
The move, which dramatically escalated another military front in the region, followed through on its threats to intervene over clashes between government troops and Druze fighters in the southern Syrian city of Suwayda.
Watch video from the bombing below.
Meanwhile, Syria’s Interior Ministry announced a ceasefire agreement for Suwayda later on Wednesday.
Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou confirmed that, stating the truce will take immediate effect. Jarbou said the agreement was “to completely halt all military operations in Suwayda by all parties” and “to fully integrate Suwayda into the Syrian state.”
Footage showed four explosions from Israeli strikes battering the sides of the Syrian military headquarters in Damascus earlier on Wednesday, leading to large plumes of smoke rising in the sky, before another air strike hit close to the presidential palace.
Israel claims it has been carrying out the strikes in Syria to protect Syria’s Druze minority, which Israel views as a potential ally and which has been involved in clashes with Syrian government troops in Suwayda, a Druze stronghold. The community there has not welcomed Israeli intervention in the past.
Syrian state news agency SANA reported that one person was killed, and 28 others injured in the strikes, citing the Ministry of Health.
