Скачать или смотреть Syrians in Damascus ask for Arab countries' help following Israeli strike near presidential palace

People in Damascus called on Arab countries to help Syria, after Israel bombed an area near the presidential palace early on Friday (May 2) in its clearest signal yet of hostility toward the Islamist-led Syrian authorities and a preparedness to ramp up military action in the name of Syria's Druze minority.

Israel has escalated military operations in Syria since rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad in December, with bombings across the country and ground forces entering its southwest, while calling for Syria to remain decentralised and isolated.

It has framed its stance around its suspicion toward interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who once headed a branch of al Qaeda, and the desire to protect the Druze, a minority sect that is an offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

Early on Friday, Israel's military said it struck an area "adjacent" to Sharaa's palace in Damascus, without further details on the target. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities, and no immediate reports of casualties.

A Syrian official told Reuters the target was about 100 metres (330 feet) east of the palace's perimeter.

The strike was "a clear message to the Syrian regime: We will not allow (Syrian) forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community", Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement.

It followed days of clashes in Syria between Sunni Muslim and Druze gunmen triggered by a voice recording purportedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed. The clashes left more than two dozen people dead in towns around Damascus and prompted an initial Israeli "warning strike" on a town on the capital's outskirts that killed one member of Syria's security forces.