Dozens of Druze crossed the Syrian-Israeli border in both directions today, shortly after warnings of strikes from Israel demanding Damascus withdraw its troops from southern Syria.

Israeli soldiers and border guards patrol the border where barbed wire fences are rising several meters high near the town of Maddal Sams, a French News Agency reporter reported.

Dozens of Druze crossed the border in both directions, in chaotic scenes of tear gas fired by Israeli forces trying to block them, he added.

In a message, Benjamin Netanyahu asked Israeli Druze to stop attempts to cross the border, stating that Israel will support the Druzen of Syria.

The Israeli military said today it had identified “dozens of suspects” who were trying to cross the border from the Hadar zone, a village in southern Syria that Israel seized after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

“At the same time, many Israeli civilians crossed the border fence in order to enter Syrian territory in the Majdal Shams area,” the army added.

This morning, the Israeli military announced that it had struck the entrance to the Syrian armed forces general headquarters in Damascus and reinforced its troops on the Syrian border, following a threat by the Israeli government to intensify its strikes to protect the Druze, a minority in southern Syria.

Israel and Syria are technically at war in the absence of a peace treaty between the two countries.