(17 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria – 17 July 2025
1. Various of damaged Syrian Defense Ministry building
2. Syrian flag, torn from the strikes
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammed al-Ali, specialist in Middle Eastern studies:
"The Israeli occupation seeks to undermine international peace and stability through its brutal bombardment of multiple areas in central Damascus. This brutal bombardment constitutes a violation of four articles of the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Peace Convention."
4. Damaged Syrian Defense Ministry building
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammed al-Ali, specialist in Middle Eastern studies:
"International law stipulates that certain sovereign buildings, such as the Presidential Palace and the Ministry of Defense, are protected zones with diplomatic and international immunity. Israel has violated this provision, which is enshrined in the Geneva Convention."
6. Various of damaged Syrian Defense Ministry building
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Humam Hajj Mousa, local resident:
"These airstrikes are acts of aggression against the people, meant to intimidate and terrorize. We thank God we’ve been free for a while now from warplanes, oppression and all those things. They want to drag us back into it, but, God willing, it won’t happen again."
8. wide of traffic
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bahaa Dahmash, local resident:
“We must not stay silent. We call on President Ahmad Al-Shara to ensure this issue is not ignored. We are ready to die and sacrifice our lives for this cause."
10. Various of damaged Syrian Defense Ministry building
STORYLINE:
Some Syrians in Damascus remained defiant on Thursday, a day after Israeli strikes hit the heart of the Syrian Damascus.
Fighting between the Druze religious minority and local Sunni Bedouin tribes along with responding Syrian government forces threatened to unravel Syria’s postwar political transition and brought further military intervention by neighboring Israel, which on Wednesday struck the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters.
Israel said it was acting to protect the Druze religious minority.
“These airstrikes are acts of aggression against the people, meant to intimidate and terrorize," said one local Humam Hajj Mousa.
"We thank God we’ve been free for a while now from warplanes, oppression and all those things. They want to drag us back into it, but, God willing, it won’t happen again," he added.
The escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province of Sweida.
Government forces that intervened to restore order clashed with the Druze militias, but also in some cases attacked civilians.
Syrian forces largely withdrew from Sweida on Thursday following he clashes and a truce agreed a day earlier appeared to be largely holding.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Druze factions and clerics have been appointed to maintain internal security in Sweida, Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa said in an address broadcast early Thursday.
AP video shot by Ghaith Alsayed
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