Israel bombs Syrian capital despite U.S. pressure to "stand down"

The Trump administration has asked Israelx to halt its strikes on Syrian government targets and to open direct talks with Damascus, a senior U.S. official told Axios on Wednesday.Why it matters: U.S. officials are highly concerned that the Israeli attacks — including on Syrian military headquarters in Damascus and near the presidential palace — could destabilize the new Syrian government.The official said the past 48 hours could seriously undermine progress toward a new security agreement between Israel and Syria as a first step toward normalization. Those discussions had previously been showing significant progress, the official said.Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. was "very concerned" about the Israeli strikes in Syria and wants the fighting to stop.Behind the scenes: U.S. special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack conducted several calls on Tuesday and Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top adviser Ron Dermer to push for deescalation."We told the Israelis to stand down and take a breath," the senior U.S. official said, adding that the administration is pushing for direct talks between Israel and Syria to solve the crisis.Dermer's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Catch up quick: In recent days, there have been clashes between a Druze militia and a Bedouin gang in the city of Suwayda in southern Syria. There has been sporadic violence between members of the two minority groups since dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December and replaced by ex-militant Ahmed al-Sharaa.When the Syrian government sent in tanks to try to restore order, the Israeli air force attacked those tanks. The U.S. official said Syria had notified Israel in advance about the tanks and said its response was not directed at Israel.But Israeli officials claim the tanks entered a zone that Israel, which is occupying parts of western Syria, has demanded be demilitarized of heavy weapons.Over the last 24 hours, clashes continued in Suwayda between the Druze, the Bedouins, militias affiliated with the Syrian government and Syrian security forces. According to the Syrian human rights observatory in London, at least 250 people have been killed.Driving the news: The leaders of the Druze community in Israel pressed the Israeli government to intervene, claiming militias affiliated with the Syrian government were carrying out a massacre of Druze in Suwayda.On Tuesday night local time and into Wednesday morning, Israel escalated its strikes against Syrian government targets in southern Syria and in Damascus.On Wednesday around noon local time, hundreds of Israeli Druze broke through the border fence with Syria in the Golan Heights and entered the buffer zone between the countries in an attempt to reach Suwayda.Israeli officials claim the strikes are intended to protect the Druze minority in Syria as part of its commitment to the Druze community in Israel, and that Syrian militias affiliated with the government have been killing dozens of Druze.However, the senior U.S. official said U.S. intelligence does not show any involvement of the Syrian government in atrocities in Suwayda. The U.S. official said that the Israeli government told the Trump administration it sees what happened in Suwayda as an Oct. 7 like attack on the Druze community.The U.S. official said Israel's actions are influenced by domestic political pressure from the Druze community in Israel — which comprises around 2% of the population — on the Netanyahu government.The latest: Despite the U.S. push for calm, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it's sending reinforcements to the border with Syria to facilitate more strikes and stop the attacks against the Druze."Israel will not allow a massacre of Druze in Syria," the statement says.

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