That understanding was based on comments from the U.S. special envoy and security talks with Israel, sources said.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has warned that Israel’s recent strikes on Damascus signal a wider agenda of destabilization, disarmament, and division across the Islamic world.

Damascus believed it had a green light from both the US and ‘Israel’ to dispatch its forces south “despite months of Israeli warnings not to do so,” according to the sources, which include Syrian political and military officials, two diplomats, and regional security sources.

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.

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

P LUMES OF SMOKE rose over Damascus on July 16th as Israeli warplanes struck Syria’s capital. Targeting the presidential palace, the defence ministry and the army command, the attack killed at least one person and wounded several others.

Republican congressman and Israel caucus co-chair Joe Wilson rebukes Israeli military strikes on Syria, calling them insulting to Trump's recent diplomatic efforts in the region.