The attack follows a wave of Israeli strikes on Syrian government forces during two days of sectarian clashes between local Druze and Bedouin populations.

As alarming sectarian violence swept through Syria in the third week of July, Christian communities in the region experienced a new wave of persecution. Attacks on the country's Christian, Druze and Alawite communities were perpetrated mainly by Islamist jihadists.

Several days of bitter sectarian fighting in the south of Syria has brought the fledgling government in Damascus dangerously close to direct conflict with Israel, after Israeli warplanes launched strikes against government buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on July 16.

In March, government forces were involved in a killing spree on the Syrian coast that left dead about 1,600 people, mostly from the Alawite minority, according to the Observatory. Another outbreak of violence just outside Damascus in May killed more than 100 people, mostly from the Druse minority.

Syria’s defense minister has announced a ceasefire after government forces entered a key city in Sweida province on Tuesday. This follows deadly clashes between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and

"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 struck Syria’s military headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday and moved more troops to the border in a bid, officials said, to prevent attacks against the Syrian Druze community.