Israel bombs Syria army HQ after warning Damascus to leave Druze alone
However, witnesses reported that the government forces joined with the Bedouin in attacking Druze fighters and civilians in a bloody rampage through the city.
The fighting marks the most serious outbreak of violence in Syria since government forces battled Druze fighters in Sweida province and near Damascus in April and May leaving more than 100 people dead.
The Islamist-led authorities have had strained relations with Syria's patchwork of religious and ethnic minorities since they toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called on Damascus to "leave the Druze in Sweida alone".
"As we have made clear and warned, Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarisation policy we have decided on," he said in a statement.
Syrian forces should withdraw, he added, and promised no let-up in Israeli military attacks until that happened, saying Israel would "raise the level of responses against the regime if the message is not understood".
Shortly afterwards, the Israeli military said it had hit Syria's military headquarters in Damascus.
"A short while ago, the (Israeli military) struck the entrance of the Syrian regime's military headquarters in the area of Damascus in Syria," it said in a statement.
Syrian state television reported that two people were wounded in central Damascus, without giving a more precise location.
'Existential battle'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of forces of the Islamist-led government near territory it controls.
Israel said it was sending more troops to the armistice line between the occupied Golan Heights and Syrian-controlled territory.
"In accordance with the situational assessment, the (Israeli military) has decided to reinforce its forces in the area of the Syrian border," a statement said.
The head of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, called the situation "an existential battle for the Druze community".
According to the Observatory, witnesses and Druze armed groups, government forces took part in fighting alongside the Bedouin against the Druze.
Sporadic gunfire continued to ring out in the city on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent reported.
Columns of smoke were seen rising from several areas amid the sound of shelling.
The correspondent counted the bodies of around 30 combatants, some in plain clothes and some in military uniform.
The Suwayda 24 news website reported "intense shelling with heavy artillery and mortars" .
The Syrian defence ministry accused "outlaw groups" of attacking its forces inside the city, saying they are now "continuing to respond to the sources of fire".
Death toll nears 250
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 248 people had been killed in Sweida province since the violence erupted on Sunday.
The Britain-based watchdog said 28 civilians were among 92 Druze killed, 21 of them "in summary executions by government forces".
At least 138 Syrian security personnel were killed, along with 18 allied Bedouin fighters, it added.
The Bedouin and the Druze have been at loggerheads for decades. The latest violence erupted after the kidnapping of a Druze vegetable merchant triggered tit-for-tat abductions, the Observatory said.
Since they toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria's Islamist authorities have been accused repeatedly of trampling over the rights of the country's religious and ethnic minorities.
Israel has presented itself as a defender of the Druze, although some analysts have said that is just a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping government forces as far from the border as possible.
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Syrians protest Sweida killings in London, Paris
In central London, around 80 protesters chanted "God protect Druze" and "Stop supporting Jolani", referring to Syrian interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa's nom de guerre, which he had abandoned after his Islamist group seized Damascus late last year. Demonstrators in the British capital held up placards calling for an end to the deadly violence in Sweida and for a humanitarian corridor to be opened up via the Jordanian border. More than 900 people have been killed in the Druze-majority province since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor. The sectarian clashes between the Druze and Bedouin tribes, who are Sunni Muslim, have drawn in the Islamist-led government as well as Israel and armed tribes from other parts of Syria. In London, protest organiser Emad al Eismy told AFP atrocities were still going on in Sweida. "Shootings, beheadings, raping, killing children, (torching) shops, homes. It's a barbarian movement going on in Sweida," he said at the protest outside BBC headquarters. -'Like ethnic cleansing' - AFP correspondents in Sweida reported clashes on Saturday, despite a ceasefire ordered by the government following a US-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention. The Observatory, a Britain-based war monitor, said armed volunteers had been deployed with the support of the Islamist-led government. Druze fighters said those who had arrived to support the Bedouin were mostly Islamists. Protester Maan Radwan, who has family in Sweida, fought back tears as he said some of his relatives had died in a massacre at their guesthouse. He reproached British Foreign Secretary David Lammy for his visit to Syria earlier this month, when he met al-Sharaa. The United Nations has called for an end to the bloodshed and demanded an independent investigation of the violence. William Salha, like most of the protesters, also has family members still living in Sweida. He said they were "helpless", shut in their homes, attempting to keep themselves safe. "It's like ethnic cleansing. They want the city without its people," he said, accusing the Syrian government of complicity. A teenager from south London at the protest with his mother said multiple members of his father's family had been gunned down and killed, with the news filtering out through an aunt. "The armed groups came to them, they tried to resist and they shot them," he said. 'Where is France?' At the Paris protest, Aida Haladi wore black and clutched a picture of her 52-year-old brother whom she said was killed in front of his home Thursday morning in Sweida city. She said he had stepped out to grab some blood pressure medication he had forgotten. "He was an honest man. He never tried to hurt a soul," she said. "Where is France?" Haladi said, accusing Syria's interim president of complicity and angry at France's leader Emmanuel Macron for having hosted him in Paris in May. Hours later, France urged all sides to "strictly adhere" to the ceasefire. Eva Radwan, a 41-year-old PhD student, held up a picture of her 34-year-old cousin and his two nephews, aged 13 and 16, who she said had been shot dead inside their home. She said her parents had been forced to move houses after their neighbourhood was bombarded earlier this week. "Jolani get out, Syria is not yours," she shouted into a megaphone in front of the Eiffel Tower, leading around 20 other protesters. She also called for Jordan to open its border to let in aid. The Observatory said at least 940 people had been killed since Sunday, including 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 165 of whom were summarily executed.
