Al-Suweida Governorate, southern Syria. Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes on Syrian soil to protect the Druze minority, who are under attack from Damascus. The airstrikes targeted Syrian military sites in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, as well as unknown targets in Deraa province in southern Syria and Hama province in northwestern Syria. Israeli officials said the strikes were intended to send a message to the Syrian government following days of bloody clashes near Damascus between pro-government militias and fighters from the Druze minority. Clashes had erupted in Druze-majority areas outside Damascus after an audio clip circulated on social media showing a man making disparaging comments about the Prophet Muhammad. The clip, falsely attributed to a Druze cleric, sparked the ire of many Sunni Muslims, but may have been fabricated. A UK-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said 56 people were killed in Sahnaya and the predominantly Druze Damascus suburb of Jaramana, including local armed fighters and members of the security forces. The Druze religious sect originated in the 10th century as an offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the world’s approximately 1 million Druze live in Syria, mainly in the southern province of Sweida and some suburbs of Damascus. Most other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 war and annexed in 1981. On May 4, Damascus forces withdrew from the Druze governorate of Al-Suweida and agreed to have it administered by local Druze personnel under a commander selected by Damascus.
