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Israel Strikes Near Syria’s Presidential Palace in ‘Message’ to Sharaa
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, waits to welcome the senior Ukrainian delegation led by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Israel bombed an area near the presidential palace in Damascus early on Friday in its clearest signal yet of hostility toward the Islamist-led Syrian authorities and a preparedness to ramp up military action in the name of Syria’s Druze minority.
Israel has escalated military operations in Syria since rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad in December, with bombings across the country and ground forces entering its southwest, while calling for Syria to remain decentralized and isolated.
It has framed its stance around its suspicion toward interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who once headed a branch of al Qaeda, and the desire to protect the Druze, a minority sect that is an offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.
Early on Friday, Israel‘s military said it struck an area “adjacent” to Sharaa‘s palace in Damascus, without further details. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The strike was “a clear message to the Syrian regime: We will not allow [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement.
Syria’s presidency condemned what it described as a “bombardment on the presidential palace” and said it marked a “dangerous escalation.”
“Israel doesn’t want peace. Nor does it care for the groups it purportedly protects by bombing others,” Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Razan Saffour wrote on X, adding Israel had never bombed near the palace when Assad was in power.
This week’s fighting posed the latest challenge for Sharaa, who has repeatedly vowed to unite all of Syria’s armed forces under one structure and govern the country, fractured by 14 years of civil war until Assad’s overthrow, in an inclusive way.
But incidents of sectarian violence, notably the killing of hundreds of pro-Assad Alawites in March, have hardened fears among minority groups about the now-dominant Islamists and sparked condemnation from global powers.
‘DON’T NEED ANYONE’S PROTECTION’
A Syrian official told Reuters the target was about 100 metres (330 feet) east of the palace‘s perimeter.
It followed days of clashes in Syria between Sunni Muslim and Druze gunmen triggered by a voice recording purportedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed. The fighting killed more than two dozen people in towns around Damascus and prompted an initial Israeli “warning strike” on a town on the capital’s outskirts that killed one member of Syria’s security forces.
On Thursday, the clashes began spreading further south to the province of Sweida, which is predominantly Druze.
Late on Thursday, Druze community leaders and Syrian government officials met in Sweida in a bid to defuse tensions. Their concluding statement said residents of Sweida would protect their province as a part of Syria’s internal security forces, and rejected “division, separation, or secession.”
“Syria is our mother nation, we do not have an alternative country,” Sheikh Laith al-Balous, one of the Druze leaders in the meeting, told Syria TV in an interview when asked whether Israel‘s strikes on Syria were meant to protect the Druze. “We don’t need anyone’s protection.”
Syrian security forces on Friday morning were patrolling the village of Al-Soura al-Kubra in Sweida province, where residents had fled clashes the previous day between approaching Sunni Islamist militants and Druze fighters defending the town.
Residents told Reuters that when they returned, they found their homes had been looted. Salman Olaiwi told Reuters his door had been broken down and money was missing but that he was glad an agreement had been reached to end the fighting.
Israel has previously said that it wants to enforce a demilitarised zone in southern Syria, including Sweida province, and would not allow Syrian government forces to deploy there.
Israel has a small Druze community and there are also some 24,000 Druze living in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel annexed the territory in 1981, a move that has been recognized by the US but not most countries.
Some Druze in Israel serving in the Israeli military wrote to Netanyahu demanding help for their kin in Syria, saying “hundreds of fighters” were ready to volunteer to help.
Netanyahu spoke with the head of the Druze community in Israel and urged them not to take the law into their own hands.
The post Israel Strikes Near Syria’s Presidential Palace in ‘Message’ to Sharaa first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.