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

Israel hit Damascus with powerful airstrikes on Wednesday, ostensibly to “protect” Syria’s Druze minority which has borne the brunt of ongoing sectarian clashes in the country.

As tensions between Syria’s Druze and Bedouin fighters escalate, Israel conducted its first airstrike in the Syrian city of Sweida after the withdrawal of Syrian government forces from the province

Israel bombed the Syrian army headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday after warning the Islamist-led government to leave the Druze minority alone in its Sweida heartland, where a war monitor says sectarian clashes have killed nearly 250 people.

For weeks, Israel has engaged in back-channel talks over a diplomatic agreement with the Syrian government. Its strikes on Damascus this week highlight a lack of strategic clarity.

Syrian government forces have started withdrawing from the southern province of Sweida following days of vicious clashes with militias from the Druze minority.

Sectarian clashes in Southern Syria have shattered expectations of a speedy peace process between Jerusalem and Damascus.

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

An Israeli military official said, "we are reinforcing forces in the Golan Heights and along the border, ready for a multitude of scenarios."