The conflict poses a challenge for the new interim president as he tries to unify Syria and extend his authority over the entire country.

Claiming that the suburb 3km southeast of Damascus is a Druze city under threat, Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Israel Katz instructed their troops to “prepare to defend” Jaramana. “We will not allow the extreme Islamic regime in Syria to harm the Druze. If the regime harms the Druze, it will be struck by us,” Katz said on Saturday.

Thousands of Jews left Syria in 1992, when they were allowed to emigrate. The visit by a small delegation of U.S.-based Syrian Jewish religious figures last week was their first time back since then.

Israel’s defense minister says minority Druze in Jaramana a town south of Damascus, were under attack from the new Syrian regime and that he ordered Israeli forces to be poised to help protect them if necessary.

On a wintry night in Damascus, hundreds of people packed into a courtyard in the Old City, dancing and singing during a joyful evening of music - a concert held with the approval of Syria's new, Islamist-led authorities.

A 2nd-century gate in the Old City's Muslim Quarter offers a glimpse into the capital's multilayered history -- and complex present

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Syria’s new army or the insurgent group that led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad to “enter the area south of Damascus”

After seven years of operating discreetly in exile, the National Syria Gathering held its first conference in Damascus under government auspices and in the presence of over 100 Syrian businessmen from inside and outside the country.

Israel's defense ministry says the military has been instructed to prepare to defend a Druze settlement in the suburbs of Damascus in neighboring Syria. It asserts that the minority it has vowed to pr