Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa strongly condemned the Israeli airstrikes against Damascus. Israel is trying to drag his country into a war, al-Sharaa said in a speech to his compatriots broadcast this morning. The fact that there has been no further escalation is a credit to the United States, the former Islamist leader expressed gratitude. Some Arab states and Turkey have also intervened as mediators.

"They have saved the region from an uncertain fate," said the 42-year-old former leader of the Islamist militia HTS, who has been more moderate since coming to power and is seeking to reconcile and unite the country, which is at war with Bashar al-Assad. Israel attacked the military headquarters and the presidential palace But these efforts have been massively torpedoed again in recent days when violence erupted in the Sweida region of southern Syria and the capital of the same name between Sunni Bedouin tribes and the Druze minority. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the days of fighting have claimed more than 300 lives.

This figure cannot be independently verified. However, information provided by the UK-based Observatory, which is monitoring the conflict in Syria with a network of activists, is generally considered reliable. After government troops intervened in the conflict to officially separate the two sides and ensure peace and order, Israel began its own operation to "protect the Druze," as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized. Syrian troops' tanks and, more recently, the Syrian government headquarters were attacked.

At the same time, hundreds of Israeli Druze arrived in Syria to assist their fellow believers, who, according to their account, were "massacred and humiliated." Syrian President Sharaa emphasized in his Wednesday speech regarding Israel: "We will not give them the opportunity to involve our people in a war that only serves to fragment our homeland and sow destruction."

At the same time, he asserted that all those who committed war crimes in Sweida would be held accountable. "The Druze are under the protection of the Syrian state. (...) They are a fundamental part of this nation," Sharaa said.