Israel launched powerful airstrikes in Damascus on Wednesday, blowing up part of the defence ministry and hitting near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw.

Israel threatened to escalate attacks on Syrian government forces unless they withdrew from Sweida, a southern province dominated by the country’s Druse minority.

Syrian forces are redeploying after new fighting between Druze and Bedouin clans. Israel has intervened and says it agreed to the move after launching air strikes in support of the Druze, targeting Syrian government forces and military sites in Damascus.

Injured government soldiers and civilians were treated after clashes broke out between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin tribes in Syria's southern Sweida province, threatening to unravel the countr...

An Israeli official, who declined to be named, told reporters on Friday that in light of the “ongoing instability in southwest Syria”, Israel had agreed to allow the “limited entry of the [Syrian] in...