Violence in Syria's Druze province has triggered Israeli military action, complicating relations with Turkey and creating a power vacuum that Iran could exploit.

Syrian troops are trying to intervene in sectarian violence in the south between the Druze minority and Bedouins. Israel said its strikes were to protect the Druze.

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.

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

The State Department condemned recent Israeli strikes in Syria, and Secretary Marco Rubio announced a U.S.-brokered agreement between Israel and Syria to end immediate violence.

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.