Syria's government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to the country's south this week, encouraged by US messaging that Syria should be governed as a centralized state, eight sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops and on Damascus on Wednesday in an escalation that took the leadership by surprise, the sources said, after government forces were accused of killing scores of people in the Druze city of Sweida.
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.
That understanding was based on public and private comments from US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack, as well as on nascent security talks with Israel, the sources said. Barrack has called for Syria to be centrally administered as "one country" without autonomous zones.
Syria's understanding of US and Israeli messages regarding its troop deployment to the south has not been previously reported.
A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on private diplomatic discussions but said the United States supported the territorial unity of Syria.
"The Syrian state has an obligation to protect all Syrians, including minority groups," the spokesperson said, urging the Syrian government to hold perpetrators of violence accountable.
In response to Reuters questions, a senior official from Syria's ministry of foreign affairs denied that Barrack's comments had influenced the decision to deploy troops, which was made based on "purely national considerations" and with the aim of "stopping the bloodshed, protecting civilians and preventing the escalation of civil conflict.”
Damascus sent troops and tanks to Sweida province on Monday to quell fighting between Bedouin tribes and armed factions within the Druze community.
Syrian forces entering the city came under fire from Druze fighters, according to Syrian sources.
Subsequent violence attributed to Syrian troops triggered Israeli strikes on Syrian security forces, the defense ministry in Damascus and the environs of the presidential palace.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel intervened to block Syrian troops from entering southern Syria - which Israel has publicly said should be a demilitarized zone - and to uphold a longstanding commitment to protect the Druze.
Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has vowed to hold accountable those responsible for violations against the Druze. He blamed "outlaw groups" seeking to inflame tensions for any crimes against civilians and did not say whether government forces were involved.
The US and others quickly intervened to secure a ceasefire by Wednesday evening. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the flare-up as a "misunderstanding" between Israel and Syria.
A Syrian and a Western source familiar with the matter said Damascus believed that talks with Israel as recently as last week in Baku produced an understanding over the deployment of troops to southern Syria to bring Sweida under government control.
Netanyahu's office declined to comment in response Reuters' questions.
Israel said on Friday it had agreed to allow limited access by Syrian forces into Sweida for the next two days. Soon after, Syria said it would deploy a force dedicated to ending the communal clashes, which continued into Saturday morning.
