JERUSALEM / ANKARA

Israel said Wednesday that it carried out a “warning operation” in Syria, in the latest violation of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

A joint statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed that the strike aimed “to prevent harm to the Druze.”

The statement said the strike targeted an armed group allegedly preparing to attack a Druze community in Sahnaya town near Damascus.

Israel claimed that the strike aimed to convey a “serious message” to Syria’s leadership that it expects Damascus to “act to prevent harm to the Druze.”

Israel’s Druze population, estimated at 150,000, mostly holds Israeli citizenship and serves in the military, unlike the 23,000 Druze in Syria’s Golan Heights, who largely reject Israeli citizenship and identify themselves as Syrian nationals.

On Wednesday, the Syrian Health Ministry said 11 civilians and security personnel were killed in attacks by "outlaw groups" in Ashrafieh Sahnaya town in southern Syria.

Israel captured most of the Golan Heights in 1967, annexing it in 1981, a move recognized only by the US.

Since December 2024, Israel has occupied Syria’s demilitarized buffer zone following the ouster of the Bashar al-Assad regime, ending the 1974 disengagement agreement without a withdrawal timeline.

Syria’s new administration, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has condemned Israel’s actions as violations of the country’s sovereignty and called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

While Syria emphasizes equal protection for all communities, including the Druze, who constitute about 3% of its population and are concentrated in Suwayda, Israel has claimed that Druze in Syria face attacks, a narrative Damascus views as a pretext for territorial expansion.

Assad, who ruled Syria for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in December, ending the Baath Party’s decades-long rule that began in 1963.