Sectarian Clashes Spread Around Syria’s Capital, Drawing In Israel

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The Israeli military said it had carried out a warning strike against “extremists” preparing to attack members of the Druse religious minority.

Violent clashes between pro-government fighters and Druse militia around Syria’s capital, Damascus, spread on Wednesday and drew Israel’s military into the fray, leaving at least 11 people dead, according to the Syrian authorities and a war monitor.

The total death toll for two days of unrest rose to at least 28 after the latest outbreak of gun battles.

The Israeli military said it had carried out a warning attack on the outskirts of Damascus against what it called “extremists” said to be preparing to attack members of the Druse religious minority, according to a joint statement by the Israeli prime minister’s office and the defense minister.

Israel’s government has close relations with the Druse community in Israel and has offered to protect the Druse in Syria should they come under attack amid a tumultuous transition of power. The Syrian authorities made no immediate comment on the Israeli attack.

The latest fighting spread overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday to the town of Ashrafieh Sahnaya, a largely Druse town just south of Damascus, when armed gunmen attacked checkpoints and vehicles belonging to government forces, according to the Syrian state news agency, SANA.

That followed clashes a day earlier in Jaramana, another town on the southern outskirts of Damascus that is also home to a large number of Druse.

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