Israel strikes Syria, saying it hit group that attacked Druze

JERUSALEM/DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Israel said it carried out a strike in Syria against "an extremist group" that attacked members of the Druze community, following through on a promise to defend the minority group as deadly sectarian violence spread near Damascus on Wednesday.

A Syrian Foreign Ministry statement rejected "all forms of foreign intervention" in Syria's internal affairs, without mentioning Israel, and declared Syria's commitment to protecting all Syrian groups "including the noble Druze sect."

It marks the first time Israel had announced a military strike in support of Syrian Druze since Bashar al-Assad was toppled, reflecting its deep mistrust of the Sunni Islamists who replaced him and posing a further challenge to interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's efforts to establish control over the fractured nation.

A Syrian Interior Ministry source told Reuters Israeli drone strikes targeted government security forces, killing one of their members, in the mainly Druze town of Sahnaya on Damascus' outskirts.

The Druze adhere to a faith that is an offshoot of Islam and have followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military had carried out "a warning operation and struck an extremist group" as it prepared to continue an attack on Druze in Sahnaya.

"At the same time, a message was passed on to the Syrian regime - Israel expects it to act in order to prevent harm to the Druze," they said.

Since Assad was ousted in December, Israel has seized ground in the southwest, vowed to protect the Druze, lobbied Washington to keep the neighbouring state weak, and has blown up much of the Syrian army's heavy weapons in the days after he was toppled.

Sharaa, who was an al Qaeda commander before renouncing ties to the group in 2016, has repeatedly vowed to govern Syria in an inclusive way. But incidents of sectarian violence, including the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, have hardened fears among minority groups about the now dominant Islamists.

The sectarian violence began on Tuesday with clashes between Druze and Sunni gunmen in the predominantly Druze area of Jaramana. It was ignited by a voice recording cursing the Prophet Mohammad and which the Sunni militants suspected was made by a Druze. More than a dozen people were reported killed on Tuesday, before the violence spread to Sahnaya on Wednesday.

In a statement on state news agency SANA, the director of security for the Damascus countryside said a ceasefire was reached in Jaramana but outlaws had escalated attacks in the Sahnaya area on Wednesday, killing 16 members of the security forces.

Security sources said hundreds of Interior Ministry security forces deployed in and around Sahnaya following an agreement with Druze elders. Residents said the situation had largely calmed after intense fighting, with only sporadic gunfire heard.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reports on conflict in Syria, said at least 22 people were killed in Sahnaya - six Druze fighters and 16 members of government security forces or fighters aligned with them.

'EXTREME PANIC AND FEAR'

The Interior Ministry has said it is investigating the origin of the audio recording.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Osama al-Rifai, appointed Syria's top Muslim cleric in March, said in a recorded statement that the spilling of any Syrian blood was forbidden.

Residents of Sahnaya reported intense street fighting throughout Wednesday. "We're in extreme panic and fear because of the indiscriminate shelling, which is forcing most of us to stay totally shuttered inside our homes," said Elias Hanna, who lives on the edge of Sahnaya.

"We're worried that the massacres of the coast will repeat themselves near Sahnaya against the Druze," he said.

Geir Pedersen, U.N. special envoy to Syria, is "deeply concerned" by violence in the country, especially in suburbs of the capital Damascus and in Homs, the United Nations said.

He called for immediate measures to ensure the protection of civilians, and prevent incitement of communal tensions.

The new Islamist-led leadership in Damascus has called for all arms to fall under their authority, but Druze fighters have resisted, saying Damascus has failed to guarantee their protection from hostile militants.

The Israeli government reiterated its pledge to defend Syrian Druze in March after the attacks on Alawites - bloodshed that was sparked by deadly attacks on government security forces and blamed by the Islamist authorities on Assad loyalists.

Israel struck Syria regularly under Assad, aiming to curb the influence of his ally Iran.

Israel has a small Druze community and there are also some 24,000 Druze living in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day war. Israel annexed the territory in 1981, a move that has not been recognised by most countries or the United Nations.

The spiritual leader of Druze in Israel, Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif, said late on Tuesday he was "closely monitoring" developments in Syria and had discussed them with Israel's defence minister.

Israel also said three Syrian Druze citizens had been evacuated from Syria to receive medical treatment in Israel.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem, Maya Gebeily in Beirut, Kinda Makieh, Khalil Ashawi and Orhan Qereman in Syria, Yomna Ehab and Jaidaa Taha in Cairo, Tala Ramadan in Dubai, Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; Writing by Ahmed Elimam/Tom Perry; Editing by Alex Richardson, Gareth Jones and Rod Nickel)