‘Immediate strike’: Netanyahu orders IDF to hit Syrian forces in Sweida; cites threat to Druze community

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Israel’s armed forces introduced they have been conducting strikes towards navy automobiles of Syrian authorities forces in Sweida, southern Syria, following experiences from Syrian state media a couple of recent assault on the predominantly Druze metropolis.“A short while ago, the (Israeli army) began striking military vehicles belonging to Syrian regime forces in the area of Sweida in southern Syria, ” a navy assertion mentioned, quoted by AFP, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz mentioned that they had ordered the military to “immediately strike regime forces and weaponry that were brought into the Sweida region in the the Druze mountains in Syria in order to carry out operations against the Druze.”Israel has adopted an aggressive stance in direction of Syria’s new leaders following the ousting of former President Bashar Assad throughout a speedy insurgent offensive led by Sunni Islamist rebel teams in December final yr, stating it didn’t need militants close to its borders. Israeli forces seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory alongside the border with the Golan Heights and launched lots of of airstrikes on navy websites in Syria.Earlier Tuesday, non secular leaders of the Druze community in Syria referred to as for armed factions clashing with govt forces to give up their weapons and cooperate with authorities as they entered the provincial capital of Sweida. One of the principle non secular authorities later launched a video assertion retracting the decision.The preliminary assertion urged armed factions in Sweida to “cooperate with the forces of the Ministry of Interior, not to resist their entry, and to hand over their weapons to the Ministry of Interior.” It additionally referred to as for “opening a dialogue with the Syrian govt to address the repercussions of the events.”Brigadier General Ahmad al-Dalati, commander of Internal Security in Sweida Governorate, welcomed the assertion and referred to as for “all religious authorities and social activists to adopt a unified national stance that supports the Ministry of Interior’s measures to extend state authority and achieve security throughout the province.”Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, a Druze non secular chief opposed to the govt. in Damascus, acknowledged in a video message that the earlier assertion by Druze leaders had been issued after an settlement with the authorities in Damascus however “they broke the promise and continued the indiscriminate shelling of unarmed civilians.”“We are being subjected to a total war of annihilation,” he mentioned.