Just hours after the Syrian president condemned a previous Israeli bombing near the presidential palace in Damascus as a “dangerous escalation,” Syrian state television is claiming that Israel has launched more airstrikes in Syria. Late Friday saw a number of local reports of Israeli military attacks around the nation, notably in the Hama countryside, which is located roughly 200 kilometers northeast of the capital, and the area surrounding Damascus.

According to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz gave their consent for the army to select targets in Syria for strikes. In a statement, the Israeli military claimed to have hit “anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missile infrastructure” in addition to a military facility in Syria.

Imran Khan of Al Jazeera reported from Damascus that the targets seemed to be military installations belonging to the overthrown Bashar al-Assad government. Khan clarified that Israel has frequently carried out these kinds of operations because it “does not want a heavily armed Syria on its border.”

After the Israeli government accused the Syrian government of failing to safeguard the country’s Druze minority, tensions between Israel and Syria have escalated this week. According to Israeli officials, the Israeli military launched attacks early Friday close to the presidential palace in an effort to give President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s transitional administration in Syria “a clear message.”

Immediately following the incident, Netanyahu and Katz together issued a statement declaring,

“We will not permit [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.”

A “reprehensible attack [that] reflects the continued reckless actions seeking to destabilize the country and exacerbate security crises,” according to al-Sharaa’s office later that day, were the Israeli military attacks near the palace.

It urged Arab nations and the world community to stand with Syria, saying,

“Syria will not compromise its sovereignty or security and will continue to defend the rights of its people by all available means.”

This week, Israel has launched two attacks close to the presidential palace. According to Al Jazeera Arabic, since yesterday, spy planes have been hovering above the Syrian capital and surrounding environs at low levels. The drones are Israeli military property, according to people close to the Syrian government.

Following the incident in Damascus, medical sources stated that an unidentified drone attacked a farm in the Suwayda area on Friday, killing four people.

The Syrian news agency confirmed that four people were murdered today as a consequence of an Israeli onslaught on the town of Kanaker, southwest of Suwayda after the Syrian government accused Israel of being responsible for the strike. According to Israeli Army Radio, its troops haven’t shot in Syria in a few hours.

This week, fighting between Druze militants and pro-government troops in Syria claimed the lives of over 100 individuals. Syria’s Druze spiritual leader, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, has denounced the violence as a “genocidal campaign” and demanded that “international forces intervene immediately to maintain peace and prevent the continuation of these crimes.”

The international community should “fulfill its role in protecting the minorities in Syria – especially the Druze – from the regime and its gangs of terror,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Thursday. Syria’s interim administration has been referred to by Israel as a “terror group from Idlib that took Damascus by force” in the past.

A journalist who covered the story earlier Friday said that the Israeli government had referred to their attacks close to the presidential palace as “a warning shot” and linked them to its efforts to exert pressure on the Syrian government to defend the Druze population. Senior Druze officials, however, have responded cynically to that, stating that “[they] actually don’t need Israel to help protect [them],” Khan added.

The Syrian Druze community and the government have been engaged in “intense negotiations,” he continued. “Tenseness has now subsided as a result of this,” Khan stated.

The Israeli airstrikes on Friday were denounced by Qatar, which said the action was “a blatant aggression” against Syria’s sovereignty and a breach of international law.

Israel’s “repeated aggressions” on Syria and Lebanon, together with its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, “are likely to ignite a cycle of violence and chaos in the region,” the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs further said.