The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the Damascus headquarters served as a command center for deploying regime forces to Suwayda, a southern Syrian region gripped by days of deadly clashes between government troops, Druze militias, and Bedouin groups.

Secretary of State Rubio says the U.S. is "very concerned" by expanding Israeli strikes targeting Syria's new government, and he wants "the fighting to stop."

Syrian troops are trying to intervene in sectarian violence in the south between the Druze minority and Bedouins. Israel said its strikes were to protect the Druze.

Israel carried out a series of powerful strikes on the Syrian capital Damascus Wednesday, escalating a campaign it says is in support of an Arab minority group involved in deadly clashes with Syrian government forces.

The Israeli military said it had "struck the entrance gate" of the Syrian regime's military headquarters complex in Damascus.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Syrian government troops will be blocked from the area south of the capital Damascus to protect the Druze minority following Israel's attacks in the country earlier this week.

The attack follows a wave of Israeli strikes on Syrian government forces during two days of sectarian clashes between local Druze and Bedouin populations.

Clan fighters gathered in the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday to support Bedouin militants in their clashes with Druze armed factions in the southern province of Sweida despite calls for a ceasefire.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Israeli airstrikes on Damascus are hampering Syria's efforts to find and destroy chemical weapons stockpiled during the rule of toppled ruler Bashar al-Assad, a government adviser said on Thursday.