Netanyahu confirms ceasefire, Syrian withdrawal from Sweida due to 'forceful action'

"I instructed the IDF to act with force because the Damascus regime sent its army south of the capital and massacred the Druze," Netanyahu said.

Israel achieved a ceasefire in Syria through "forceful actions," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

"We have established a clear policy, the demilitarization of the area south of Damascus, and the protection of our brothers, the Druze," Netanyahu added.

"I instructed the IDF to act with force because the Damascus regime sent its army south of the capital and massacred the Druze," he said.

"As a result of our intensified action, a ceasefire has been established, and Syrian forces withdrew back to Damascus," he noted.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government will soon withdraw its forces from areas with Druze populations, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday night.

Earlier, Reuters reported that Syria’s Druze have reached a ceasefire agreement with the Syrian government in Sweida that will take immediate effect, Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou said in a video broadcast by state media on Wednesday.

A ceasefire announced on Tuesday night collapsed after only a few hours. There was still fire from government forces in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida after the announcement was made, according to a Reuters witness.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, corroborated the reports of a ceasefire agreement, adding that security checkpoints were deployed across Sweida.

Israel conducted strikes on key Damascus sites

Israel struck the entrance to the Syrian regime’s military headquarters complex in Damascus, the IDF confirmed earlier on Wednesday.

Amichai Stein contributed to this report.