The Trump administration, which has pursued warmer relations with Syria following the toppling last year of dictator Bashar al-Assad, including by easing sanctions, said it was trying to calm tensions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at the White House on Wednesday, blamed the violence on a “misunderstanding” between Israel and Syria stemming from the sectarian conflict in Syria’s south.
Israel hit the ministry multiple times Wednesday, including with two large strikes around 3 p.m., as bystanders and journalists including a Washington Post photographer were in the vicinity, looking for damage from an earlier Israeli strike.
Another airstrike landed near the presidential palace in Damascus. At least three people were killed and 34 were wounded in the strikes on the capital, Syrian media reported.
