Israel’s military said it struck the entrance to the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus on Wednesday, stepping up attacks on the Islamist-led authorities with the declared aim of protecting the Druze minority from harm by government forces.

It marked the third day in a row that Israel has struck Syria where government security forces have clashed with local Druze fighters in the southern city of Sweida.

Security sources from within the defence ministry told Reuters that at least two drone strikes had hit the building and that officers were taking cover in the basement. State-owned Elekhbariya TV said the Israeli strike wounded two civilians.

The Israeli military said it had "struck the entrance gate of the Syrian regime's military headquarters complex" in Damascus and that it continued "to monitor developments and the actions being taken against Druze civilians in southern Syria".

Syria's state media and witnesses said Israeli strikes throughout Wednesday also struck the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, where a fourth day of fighting swiftly collapsed a ceasefire announced the previous evening.

Syrian government troops were dispatched to the Sweida region on Monday to quell fighting between Druze fighters and Bedouin armed men but ended up clashing with the Druze militias themselves.

Local news outlet Sweida24 said the city of Sweida and nearby villages were coming under heavy artillery and mortar fire early on Wednesday. Syria's defence ministry, in a statement carried by state news agency SANA, blamed outlaw groups in Sweida for breaching the truce.

The defence ministry called on residents of the city to stay indoors. Some residents that Reuters was able to reach by phone said they were holed up at home in fear with no electricity.