THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Israeli airstrikes on Damascus are hampering Syria's efforts to find and destroy chemical weapons stockpiled during the rule of toppled ruler Bashar al-Assad, a government adviser said on Thursday.

Calm returned to southern Syria's Sweida province on Sunday, a monitor and AFP correspondents reported, after a week of sectarian violence between Druze fighters and rival groups that killed more than 1,

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.

A week after deadly clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters in the southern Syrian city of Sweida, Syrian Red Crescent convoys drove on Sunday along the Damascus-Daraa highway to provide humanitarian assistance to citizens stranded in villages under attack.

Israel carried out a series of airstrikes Wednesday on Syria’s Defense Ministry in Damascus, causing injuries in an escalating conflict with the new Syrian government, according to an Israeli military statement and Syrian state television.

Israel carried out a series of powerful strikes on the Syrian capital Damascus Wednesday, escalating a campaign it says is in support of an Arab minority group involved in deadly clashes with Syrian government forces.

Israel's strikes in defense of the minority's communities across the border attest to a deepening bond, according to locals in the Druze village of Majdal Shams.The post ‘This is our

Some Syrian military units are withdrawing from the southern city of Suwayda after days of deadly fighting. Secretary of State Rubio announced late Wednesday that all parties, including Israel, agreed to a ceasefire.

The Israeli military launched airstrikes in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday, hitting the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters.

The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and Sunni Muslim groups killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria's fragile postwar transition.