Israel strikes in Damascus as clashes between government forces and Druze groups in Syria rage on

DAMASCUS Syria AP Clashes raged in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on Wednesday after a ceasefire between leadership forces and Druze armed groups collapsed and as Israel threatened to escalate its involvement saying it s in promotion of the Druze religious minority The Israeli army revealed it struck near the entrance to the Syrian Ministry of Defense in Damascus Israel has launched a series of airstrikes on convoys of governing body forces in southern Syria since the clashes erupted and has beefed up forces on the dividing line Syria s Defense Ministry had earlier blamed militias in the Druze-majority area of Sweida for violating a ceasefire agreement that had been reached Tuesday causing Syrian army soldiers to return fire It explained they were adhering to rules of engagement to protect residents prevent harm and ensure the safe return of those who left the city back to their homes Meanwhile reports of attacks on civilians continued to surface and Druze with family members in the conflict zone searched desperately for information about their fate amid communication blackouts A rebel offensive led by Islamist insurgent groups ousted Syria s longtime despotic leader Bashar Assad in December bringing an end to a nearly -year civil war Since then the country s new rulers have struggled to consolidate control The primarily Sunni Muslim leaders have faced suspicion from religious and ethnic minorities whose fears increased after clashes between leadership forces and pro-Assad armed groups in March spiraled into sectarian revenge attacks Hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority to which Assad belongs were killed Druze fear for the lives of their relatives in Sweida In Jaramana near the Syrian capital Evelyn Azzam stated she fears that her husband Robert Kiwan is dead The newlyweds live in the Damascus suburb but Kiwan would commute to Sweida for work each morning and got trapped there when the clashes erupted Azzam explained she was on the phone with Kiwan when assurance forces questioned him and a colleague about whether they were affiliated with Druze militias When her husband s colleague raised his voice she heard a gunshot Kiwan was then shot while trying to appeal They shot my husband in the hip from what I could gather she stated struggling to hold back tears The ambulance took him to the hospital Since then we have no idea what has happened A Syrian Druze from Sweida living in the United Arab Emirates declared her mother father and sister were hiding in a basement in their home near the hospital where they could hear the sound of shelling and bullets from outside She spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear her family might be targeted She had struggled to get hold of them but when she reached them she revealed I heard them cry I have never heard them this way before Another Druze woman living in the UAE with family members in Sweida who also spoke on condition of anonymity explained a cousin explained her that a house where their relatives lived had been burned down with everyone inside it It reminded her of when the Islamic State extremist group attacked Sweida in she declared Her uncle was among plenty of civilians there who took arms to fight back while Assad s forces stood aside He was killed in the fighting It s the same right now she described The Associated Press The Druze fighters she commented are just people who are protecting their province and their families The Druze religious sect began as a th-century offshoot of Ismailism a branch of Shiite Islam More than half of the roughly million Druze worldwide live in Syria Bulk of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel including in the Golan Heights which Israel captured from Syria in the Mideast War and annexed in Reports of killings and looting in Druze areas The latest escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province Regime forces that intervened to restore order then clashed with the Druze Videos surfaced on social media of government-affiliated fighters forcibly shaving the mustaches of Druze sheikhs and stepping on Druze flags and pictures of religious clerics Other videos demonstrated Druze fighters beating captured administration forces and posing by their dead bodies AP reporters in the area saw burned and looted houses No official casualty figures have been issued since Monday when the Syrian Interior Ministry announced people had been killed The U K -based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated more than people had been killed as of Wednesday morning including four children five women and soldiers and precaution forces The observatory stated at least people were killed in field executions Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a announcement Wednesday condemning the violations These criminal and illegal actions cannot be accepted under any circumstances and altogether contradicts the principles that the Syrian state is built on the declaration read vowing that perpetrators whether from individuals or organizations outside of the law will be held accountable legally and we will never allow this to happen without punishment Druze in the Golan gathered along the boundary fence to protest the violence against Druze in Syria Israel threatens to scale up its intervention In Israel the Druze are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the military In Syria the Druze have been divided over how to deal with the country s new leaders with a few advocating for integrating into the new system while others remained suspicious and pushed for an autonomous Druze region On Wednesday Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz mentioned in a declaration that the Israeli army will continue to attack regime forces until they withdraw from the area and will also soon raise the bar of responses against the regime if the message is not understood Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned in a message Tuesday night that Israel has a commitment to preserve the southwestern region of Syria as a demilitarized area on Israel s edge and has an obligation to safeguard the Druze locals Israel has taken an aggressive stance toward Syria s new leaders since Assad s fall saying it doesn t want Islamist militants near its borders Israeli forces have seized a U N -patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory along the edge with the Golan Heights and launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria Chehayeb announced from Beirut Source