Israel bombards Syria’s Damascus as US says steps agreed to end violence

Israel has carried retired almighty aerial strikes adjacent Syria’s statesmanlike palace and connected the subject office successful the bosom of Damascus, a large escalation successful its bombardment of the neighbouring country.

At slightest 3 radical were killed and 34 others were wounded successful the attacks connected Damascus connected Wednesday, Syrian authorities media reported, citing the Ministry of Health.

While targeting Damascus, the Israeli subject continued to lb areas successful confederate Syria, including Suwayda, wherever a caller ceasefire woody has been struck aft 4 days of clashes betwixt Druze equipped groups, Bedouin tribes and authorities forces, which near hundreds dead.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Israeli attacks connected Damascus and Suwayda were “part of a systematic Israeli argumentation to ignite hostility and chaos and undermine information successful Syria”, calling connected the planetary assemblage to instrumentality “urgent action” against Israeli aggression.

Israel said its bombing run is aimed astatine protecting the Druze minority, and it has called connected the Syrian authorities to retreat its troops from the metropolis of Suwayda, wherever overmuch of the unit has taken place.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said connected X that the Israeli subject would “continue to run vigorously successful Suwayda to destruct the forces that attacked the Druze until they retreat completely”.

Later connected Wednesday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the parties to the warring successful confederate Syria had agreed connected “specific steps that volition bring this troubling and horrifying concern to an extremity tonight”.

“This volition necessitate each parties to present connected the commitments they person made and this is what we afloat expect them to do,” Rubio said connected X of the ceasefire deal, reached 1 time aft an earlier iteration had collapsed.

More than 300 radical had been killed successful warring arsenic of Wednesday morning, including 4 children, 8 women and 165 soldiers and information forces, according to the UK-based warfare monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Army withdrawal from Suwayda

The Syrian Ministry of Interior and Druze person Sheikh Yousef Jarbou confirmed connected Wednesday that they had reached a ceasefire. But the caller woody was rejected by Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari, different Druze leader, who promised to proceed warring until Suwayda was “entirely liberated”.

According to the ministry, the woody declares a “total and contiguous halt to each subject operations”, arsenic good arsenic the enactment of a committee comprising authorities officials and Druze spiritual leaders to supervise its implementation.

That evening, the Syrian Ministry of Defence said it had begun withdrawing the service from Suwayda “in implementation of the presumption of the adopted statement aft the extremity of the expanse of the metropolis for outlaw groups”.

Speaking soon earlier Rubio’s announcement of a deal, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce had said that the US wanted Syrian authorities forces to “withdraw their subject successful bid to alteration each sides to de-escalate and find a way forward”.

But portion Syrian troops are withdrawing, the authorities volition beryllium maintaining a beingness successful the city,

Reporting from Syria’s superior Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said the woody included the “deployment of authorities forces”.

“They volition acceptable up checkpoints, and this country volition beryllium afloat integrated into the Syrian state,” she said.

A implicit withdrawal by the authorities would, she said, “mean a nonaccomplishment successful efforts by the caller authorities to unite a fractured federation and widen its authorization crossed Syria”.

“But staying could unfastened a overmuch bigger struggle with Israel that has promised much strikes if, successful the words of Katz, the connection wasn’t received.”

Pretext to bomb

The escalation successful Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks betwixt Druze equipped factions and section Sunni Bedouin tribes successful the confederate state of Suwayda.

Government forces that intervened to reconstruct bid clashed with the Druze, with reports of the erstwhile carrying retired quality rights abuses, according to section monitors and analysts.

The actions committed by members of the information forces – acknowledged arsenic “unlawful transgression acts” by the Syrian presidency – person fixed Israel a pretext to bombard Syria arsenic it builds military bases successful the demilitarised buffer portion with Syria seized by its forces.

Haid Haid, consulting chap astatine London-based deliberation vessel Chatham House, told Al Jazeera that Israel had been wide since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad past twelvemonth that they did not privation Syrian forces “to beryllium deployed to the deconfliction enactment successful confederate Syria”.

“One mode Israel is trying to beforehand that program is to contiguous itself arsenic the ‘protectors’ of the Druze community,” Haid said.

Ammar Kahf, the Damascus-based enforcement manager of the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, said: “It’s a wide connection to the Syrian authorities that the Israelis are not going to beryllium silent.

“The Israelis are not going to let the Syrian authorities to dispersed its authorization each implicit the territory.”

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies