ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Israeli military launched airstrikes near the Syrian presidential palace in Damascus in the early hours of Friday after the Israeli defense minister threatened Syria with force should they continue targeting the country’s minority Druze community.

The Israeli forces have, over the past three days, conducted several strikes on Syrian territory and deployed forces into a buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

Israel’s Friday strike came hours after Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed that they would use force if the Druze continued facing attacks.

"Should the attacks on the Druze resume and the Syrian regime fail to prevent them, Israel will respond with significant force," Katz said in a statement.

The Damascus suburb of Sahnaya, with a substantial Druze and Christian population, was where clashes erupted on Wednesday between Druze fighters and loyalists of the Islamist government in Damascus.

The conflict has since left over 100 people dead, most of whom belong to the Druze community, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The deadly violence has drawn massive condemnation on a regional and international level.

United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen condemned the violence as "unacceptable" and expressed alarm at "the potential for further escalation of an extremely fragile situation."

The most prominent Druze religious leader in Syria, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, on Thursday called ongoing sectarian hostilities an "unjustifiable genocidal campaign" against the Druze people.

The Druze are a religious minority that lives in Syria and other parts of the Levant, subscribing to an Abrahamic faith and calling themselves al-Muwahiddun (the monotheists). Their beliefs share numerous similarities with other Abrahamic religions. Druze religious tenets emphasize divine unity, a belief in reincarnation, and the eternity of the soul.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that spearheaded a December offensive that saw former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad deposed, now comprises the bulk of the Syrian military. HTS leader and current Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa sparked concerns amongst the international community upon his ascension to power due to his former ties with the al-Qaeda extremist organization. However, his administration has repeatedly promised inclusive and tolerant rule for all ethnic and religious minorities in the country.

Despite these vows of inclusivity, Syrian security forces in March carried out an extensive campaign of "public executions" against the minority Alawites in the coastal regions of the west of the country, killing over 1,700 men, women, and children.