Israel announces an attack near the Presidential Palace in Damascus in a "clear message to the Syrian regime."

Israeli warplanes attacked an area near the presidential palace in Damascus , the Syrian capital, early Friday morning, according to a brief statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The attack was confirmed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who described the raid as "a clear message to the Syrian regime" in a statement reported by local media.

"We will not allow Syrian troops to advance south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," Netanyahu and Katz said.

The defense minister had already warned Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa on Thursday that his country would respond "very severely" if "attacks against the Druze in Syria do not cease."

Bombings against the Druze minority

Israel bombed the Syrian town of Ashrafieh Sahnaya, on the outskirts of Damascus, last Wednesday amid heavy clashes between state security forces and groups allegedly linked to the Druze minority.

Armed groups linked to Syria's Druze community have been engaged in intense clashes with state security forces since Tuesday, leaving dozens dead and prompting Israeli intervention on behalf of the religious minority.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Thursday raised the death toll to 101 in the armed clashes that have occurred over the past two days in southern Syria, with no official casualty figures yet provided by the authorities.

Since 1967, Israel has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights, located on the border between the two countries and which Israel unilaterally annexed in 1981. Some 24,000 members of the Druze minority reside there, along with some 30,000 Israelis.