Syria strongly condemned foreign intervention in the country following a rare Israeli strike near Damascus on Wednesday amid deadly sectarian violence. Syria said the Israeli strike killed at least one security officer and injured several other people. Earlier on Wednesday Israel's military said it had carried out a strike on the outskirts of the Syrian capital saying it was targeting an "extremist group" that had attacked the Druze community, a religious minority in the country. In a joint statement on Wednesday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the operation in the town of Sahnaya, southwest of Damascus, was a "warning action" against an unidentified armed group "preparing to continue attacking the Druze population." Syria's foreign ministry reacted saying it had an "unwavering commitment" to protecting all Syrian people, including the "honorable Druze community." According to Syria's state news agency SANA, government forces launched a wide-scale operation in the area surrounding Sahnaya to arrest "outlawed gangs" after an unidentified armed group attacked a Syrian government checkpoint late Tuesday, wounding three officers. Other groups simultaneously opened fire on civilian and security vehicles in nearby areas. Recent violence left at least 11 people dead and dozens injured. On Thursday, top Syrian Druze leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri called for the "immediate intervention" of international peacekeeping forces "for the swift protection of an innocent, defenseless population." He described the violence against his community as a "campaign of extermination" carried by what he described as Syrian government "affiliated extremist gangs." Without referring to Hijri's statement, Syria's foreign ministry immediately rejected calls for foreign interference. "Any call for foreign intervention – under any pretext or slogan – only leads to further deterioration and division," the ministry said in a statement. "Those who call for such intervention bear historical, moral, and political responsibility before the Syrian people and history itself." Foreign interventions, it added, "are often pursued at the expense of national interests and serve agendas unrelated to the aspirations of the Syrian people." Syria's top Sunni-Muslim cleric Osama al-Rifai has called on all Syrians to keep calm and not escalate the situation. "Everyone must... stay away from calls for revenge and retaliation, and allow justice to take its course," Rifai said regarding the "recent events," in Sahnaya, in a statement on Wednesday as cited by SANA. Two local journalists in Damascus told CNN on condition of anonymity due to security concerns that the clashes in Sahnaya broke out between fighters loyal to the Syrian government and militiamen from the Druze minority. Since the fall of the Bashar Al Assad regime, Israel has positioned itself as the protector of Syria's Druze, an Arab community that follows an offshoot of Islam and is predominantly present across Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Wary of a new regime led by former militants, a small minority of Druze have welcomed Israel's overtures, but many others have publicly denounced them. A sizeable number of Druze live within Israel's internationally recognized borders, have Israeli citizenship and serve in its military. A large Syrian-Druze population is also present in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and most have rejected Israeli citizenship and do not traditionally serve in the Israeli military. Within Syria, many Druze live in the south of the country, parts of which Israel declared a buffer zone after Assad's fall. "On this Memorial Day for Israel's fallen soldiers, as we honor the Druze community's contribution to Israel's security, we stress our commitment to protect their brethren in Syria," the joint statement added. Israeli officials also urged the Syrian government to prevent harm to the Druze community. On Wednesday evening, the Israeli military said that three Syrian Druze citizens were evacuated into Israel for medical treatment after they were injured in Syria. The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen has expressed his deep concern "at unacceptable violence in Syria especially in suburbs of Damascus," and " alarmed at reports of Israeli attacks," in a statement on Wednesday " These attacks must stop," Pedersen said and called for "full respect of Syria's sovereignty." The situation on the ground remains volatile, with residents telling CNN that Sahnaya continues to witness sporadic clashes and intermittent attacks by unidentified local groups involving mortar fire and medium-caliber machine guns. Efforts by government officials and community mediators to de-escalate are ongoing, multiple residents in the area told CNN. — CNN
