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Israel waded into a wave of sectarian violence in Syria, launching airstrikes on Wednesday and threatening to strike Syrian government forces if clashes persist with fighters from the country\u2019s Druse minority.<\/p>\n
The Israeli military said its aircraft had struck a group of \u201coperatives\u201d south of Damascus and accused them of having \u201cattacked Druse civilians.\u201d It did not identify the operatives. But earlier, the Israeli government said the attack targeted members of an unidentified \u201cextremist group.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least 39 people \u2014 22 of them on Wednesday \u2014 have been killed in two days of clashes between Syrians on the outskirts of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group based in Britain.<\/p>\n
The Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday came after violent clashes broke out between pro-government fighters and Druse militiamen from near the town of Ashrafieh Sahnaya, a largely Druse area south of Damascus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The attacks on areas around Damascus with large Druse populations began overnight from Monday to Tuesday after an audio clip circulated on social media purporting to be a Druse cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric denied the accusation, and Syria\u2019s Interior Ministry said that its initial findings showed that he was not the person in the clip.<\/p>\n
The violence is stoking fears among Syria\u2019s many diverse ethnic and religious minorities, who have grown increasingly worried about persecution under the rule of Syria\u2019s new Islamist leadership who overthrew the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December.<\/p>\n
The clashes began in<\/a> the predominantly Druse city of Jaramana. By the end of the day Tuesday, 17 people were dead.<\/p>\n The unrest spread overnight into Wednesday to Ashrafieh Sahnaya, where Druse militia fighters battled \u201cforces affiliated to the ministries of defense and interior and other proxy forces,\u201d of the government, according to the Observatory war monitoring group.<\/p>\n The Syrian state news agency, SANA, said armed gunmen attacked checkpoints and vehicles belonging to government forces in Ashrafieh Sahnaya. The agency did not say who the armed gunmen were, but it was apparently making a reference to the Druse fighters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A Syrian Interior Ministry official called the gunmen who attacked government forces \u201ccriminals\u201d and said that the government would strike back \u201cwith an iron fist,\u201d according to SANA.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s first airstrike on Wednesday was described as a warning against what it called \u201can extremist group\u201d said to be preparing to attack members of the Druse religious minority, according to a joint statement by the Israeli prime minister\u2019s office and the defense minister.<\/p>\n Israel is home to a substantial Druse community, many of whom see themselves as loyal citizens and serve in the military. Israel has offered to protect the Druse in Syria should they come under attack amid the tumultuous transition of power<\/a> in the country recently.<\/p>\n Many Syrian Druse have rejected that offer.<\/p>\n Syria is a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, while the Druse are a religious group that practices a secretive religion rooted in Islam<\/a>. The rebels who led the overthrow of the former dictator Bashar al-Assad<\/a> belonged to a Sunni Islamist group that was once linked to Al Qaeda. They now run the government<\/a> and the national military.<\/p>\n Since Mr. al-Assad was ousted, Israel has carried out numerous incursions<\/a> in Syria, raiding villages, launching hundreds of airstrikes and destroying military outposts. Israel says that it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of hostile groups and that it does not want enemy forces to entrench themselves in areas near its borders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Syria\u2019s new leaders have wrestled to integrate the complex web of armed groups<\/a> operating across the country into the new state apparatus. Several of the strongest Druse militias are in talks with the government about their conditions for integrating into the army.<\/p>\n Sectarian violence has hit Syria several times<\/a> since the ouster of Mr. Assad, stoking fears among many minority groups that the country\u2019s new leaders will marginalize or even target them.<\/p>\n