OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel said Wednesday it had hit Syria's military headquarters, after vowing to step up strikes unless the government withdrew its forces from areas in Syria's south that recently saw deadly clashes between Druze and Bedouin tribes.

 

"A short while ago, the [Israeli military] struck the entrance of the Syrian regime's military headquarters in the area of Damascus in Syria," a statement read.

 

Syrian state television reported that two people were wounded in central Damascus, without giving the exact location.

 

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of Damascus's Islamist-led government near its territory.

 

The head of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, on Wednesday called the situation "an existential battle for the Druze community".

 

Israel's military announced on Tuesday that it had struck military vehicles belonging to government forces in the Sweida area of southern Syria following the clashes.

 

According to witnesses, Druze armed groups and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, government forces took part in fighting alongside the Bedouin against the Druze.

 

At least 203 people have been killed in southern Syria's Sweida province, the war monitor said Tuesday, giving an updated toll after several days of clashes that triggered the deployment of government forces.

 

The dead include 92 members of the Druze minority, 21 of them civilians "killed in summary executions by government forces", according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as well as 93 security personnel and 18 Bedouin.