Israeli military strikes near Syria’s presidential palace

Syria’s security forces are deployed at a highway where they found bodies of Syrian Druze fighters. Picture: AP/Omar Albam

Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace early on Friday, hours after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria.

The strike came after days of clashes between pro-Syrian government gunmen and fighters who belong to the Druze minority sect near the capital Damascus.