That understanding was based on comments from the U.S. special envoy and security talks with Israel, sources said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the Damascus headquarters served as a command center for deploying regime forces to Suwayda, a southern Syrian region gripped by days of deadly clashes between government troops, Druze militias, and Bedouin groups.

Hundreds of people have been killed in days of violence in southern Syria which began with clashes between members of the Druze minority group and Bedouin tribes and drew a military intervention from Syria.

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.

P LUMES OF SMOKE rose over Damascus on July 16th as Israeli warplanes struck Syria’s capital. Targeting the presidential palace, the defence ministry and the army command, the attack killed at least one person and wounded several others.

Israeli warplanes pounded Syrian government buildings in Damascus, escalating its campaign against Syria’s new authorities amid heavy clashes between government forces and the country’s Druze minority.

The Israeli military said it had "struck the entrance gate" of the Syrian regime's military headquarters complex in Damascus.

A strong central government in Damascus appeals to Trump but not to his allies in Israel. Once again, images of horrifying violence are pouring out of Syria: dead bodies piled up in a hospital corridor. Gunmen calling out insults as they drive their cars over the corpses of murdered civilians.