UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. AFP
Guterres also "condemns Israel's violation of Syria's sovereignty, including the latest air strikes near the presidential palace in Damascus," said Stephane Dujarric, the UN spokesperson.
"It is essential that these attacks stop and that Israel respects Syria's sovereignty, its unity, its territorial integrity and its independence," Dujarric added.
Israel claimed, the dawn strike, was a "clear message" to Syria not to harm the Druze community, after sectarian clashes between Druze fighters and Syrian forces.
Israel has frequently cited the Druze minority as a justification for strikes across Syria, despite top Druze clerics and armed factions reaffirming their loyalty to the Syrian state and rejecting calls for separation.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Damascus, explained that the Israeli attack "hit in the vicinity of the presidential palace" but caused no damage.
"The Israelis are calling it a warning shot, saying that the Syrian government needs to protect the Druze community. But that has been met with cynicism from senior Druze leaders, who say they don’t need Israel to help protect them," Khan said.
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt also voiced concern, urging Syria’s Druze community to resist “Israeli interference.”
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria since rebels forces overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December. But the attacks have served more to inflame sectarian tensions and undermine Syrian sovereignty than to offer any meaningful protection to minorities.
Druze residents in Syria’s capital expressed anger at the ongoing strikes. Ahmed, a 55-year-old who withheld his surname, said the blast woke his family. “Unfortunately, we’ve gotten used to explosions and Israeli strikes in Damascus. Curse them,” he said.
Syria itself denounced the air strike as a "dangerous escalation."
"The secretary-general unequivocally calls on all concerned to cease all hostilities, exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation," Dujarric concluded.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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