Tel Aviv, May 2 -- Israel confirmed fresh airstrikes on Damascus in the area of the Syrian presidential compound on Friday morning in a warning to President Ahmed al-Sharaa as sectarian violence between Druze and Sunnis continued.

At least 22 Syrian Druze have been killed in clashes with Sunni gunmen in the Damascus area.

"The recent violence and inflammatory rhetoric targeting members of the Druze community in Syria is reprehensible and unacceptable," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement condemning the fighting.

The Friday morning strike followed up on Israeli warning strikes on Wednesday.

Israel's Druze community has been calling on the government to take stronger measures to protect their co-religionists in ...