Sharaa vowed to protect minority groups including the Druze and the Alawites, who formerly dominated power in Syria. But after almost 15 years of civil war that left the country’s institutions and economy largely wrecked,

Israeli air strike on Damascus is part of a systematic military operation that includes more than 200 attacks in various regions of Syria.

Violence between government forces and armed factions of a religious minority in southern Syria has deepened divisions in a country still recuperating from a civil war.