The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the Damascus headquarters served as a command center for deploying regime forces to Suwayda, a southern Syrian region gripped by days of deadly clashes between government troops, Druze militias, and Bedouin groups.

Israel launched rare strikes in Damascus on Wednesday in a campaign it said was aimed at defending the Druze community after days of clashes in the southern city of Sweida.

"If Israel feels that a certain leader...is an evident threat to its national security, it will operate," a former Israeli envoy told Newsweek.

Under Israeli bombardment and diplomatic pressure, Ahmed al-Sharaa pulled troops from Syria's Druze heartland -- a move that exposes the interim leader's weakness just as he sought to assert control.Since seizing office in December after ousting longtime autocrat Bashar al-Assad,

Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16,

Hundreds of Druze from Israel pushed across the border in solidarity with their Syrian cousins they feared were under attack. Many then met relatives they had never seen before.