The United Nations has condemned an intense wave of Israeli airstrikes on Syria as Israel said its forces were on the ground in Syria to protect the Druze minority sect following days of clashes with Syrian pro-government gunmen.

Israel’s Netanyahu said the strike was a warning to the Syrian government not to deploy troops to the south and to prevent violence against the Druze minority.

Israel bombed an area near the presidential palace in Damascus early on Friday, in its clearest warning yet to Syria's new Islamist-led authorities of its readiness to ramp up military action in the name of the country's Druze minority.