Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London. I'm Paul Henley.

First today, what is the Israeli military doing carrying out attacks on the Syrian capital? The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, says he's acted in support of the minority

Druze community there, telling the new Syrian government that he won't tolerate Sunni forces

being sent into Druze areas south of Damascus. But is there another motive? In a moment,

we'll hear from a former Israeli ambassador to the US and from news hours Tim Franks, who is in Damascus.

Israel's picking of a target close to the presidential palace in the capital follows sectarian

clashes in Syria this week, in which dozens of people were killed. The Syrian president,

Ahmed al-Shara, who overthrew the Assad regime in December,

has insisted he wants to govern his country in an inclusive way,

but the latest violence has highlighted the extent of fractures within Syria.

I've been speaking through a translator to Sheikh Hamud al-Hanawi,

who is one of three Druze leaders in Syria.

I asked him about the recent violence and whether the Druze people had received any support from the government.

We met with officials in Daria near Sahnaya, and we were a delegation made of the three

Druze sheikhs, and we met three local mayors who are in charge of different areas.

We agreed with these officials that we will stop the fighting and try and contain the unrest.

But unfortunately, the conditions got worse and fighting resumed. Things did not settle.

There were some violations by the security forces. We tried to reach out to them again to contain these events.

And at the moment, things are still tense.

You've previously backed the new Syrian government.

Has that changed now? The matter is not about whether we support or oppose the current government in Syria.

We support the state of the rule of law and the national sovereignty of Syria as long as

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