Israel is threatening to launch a military operation in Syria, following several clashes between Syrian security forces and local gunmen over the last 48 hours in the city of Jaramana, only about a mile to the southeast of the Syrian capital of Damascus. Israel claims that the “extremist Islamic regime in Syria” is targeting the Druze ethnic and religious group; with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said to have instructed the Israel Defense Force (IDF) to “prepare to defend” the Druze-majority city of Jaramana on the outskirts of Damascus.