Israel’s air force has struck near Syria’s presidential palace hours after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria

Israel bombed an area near the presidential palace in Damascus early on Friday, in its clearest warning yet to Syria's new Islamist-led authorities of its readiness to ramp up military action in the name of the country's Druze minority.

Syria's Islamist rulers denounced an air strike near the presidential palace as a "dangerous escalation", as Israel reportedly launched its heaviest barrage this year on the country.