Israel hits Syria's military HQ and near presidential palace

Damascus: The Israeli army said on Wednesday it struck the entrance to the Syrian military's headquarters in Damascus.

Reuters news agency reported, citing Syrian security sources, that at least two drone strikes hit the Syrian Defence Ministry building.

Another strike hit near the presidential palace, located in the hills outside of the Syrian capital.

The attacks come after Israel vowed to step up its strikes in Syria unless the government pulls its forces from southern areas where there were recent deadly clashes between Druze and Bedouin tribes.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors events amid the recent conflicts in Syria, said two people were injured in two successive airstrikes near the General Staff Headquarters.

Why is Israel bombing Syria?
Israel has now struck Syria for a third day in a row. Israel has said its attacks were to protect the Druze minority after Syrian government troops, dispatched to quell fighting between Druze and Bedouin fighters, ended up clashing with the Druze militias themselves.

Syria's state media and witnesses said there had also been Israeli strikes throughout Wednesday on the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, where fighting continues after the collapse of a ceasefire.

In a social media post after the strikes, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said: "The warnings to Damascus have ended — now painful blows will come." 

In February, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for southern Syria to be completely demilitarized. He also warned that Israel would not tolerate the presence of Syrian government forces near territory it controls.

As fighting continues in Sweida, members of the Druze community from Israel have been entering Syria to support Druze armed groups, while people from the Syrian Druze community, in their turn, have been trying to enter Israel.

Israeli soldiers have been firing teargas in an attempt to keep order on the heavily fortified frontier.