Syria's small Druze community largely kept out of the country's long civil war but since president Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December it has found itself confronting the new Islamist-led government amid military intervention by Israel.

Here is a profile of the religious minority which has been caught up in deadly clashes with armed groups linked to the government in recent days.

- Secretive minority -

The Druze community accounted for around three percent of Syria's pre-war population of 23 million, or around 700,000 people.

Iran executed a man on Wednesday after convicting him of spying for Israel and assisting in the murder of a Revolutionary Guards colonel in a trial activists said was unfair and based on a confession obtained by torture.

Mohsen Langarneshin, reportedly aged 34, was hanged at dawn at Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj outside Tehran, several human rights groups said.

His mother and father held a vigil outside the jail during the night, pleading for his life to be spared, images on social media showed.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered troops to deploy on Wednesday to support firefighters battling rapidly spreading wildfires near Jerusalem, calling the situation a "national emergency".

The country's Magen David Adom rescue agency reported hundreds of civilians were currently at risk from the fires.

Sixteen people were being treated for minor injuries from smoke inhalation, the MDA said, adding the alert level had been raised to the highest level.

Syria said Israel launched new strikes near Damascus on Wednesday, after sectarian clashes left nearly 40 dead in two days and Israel warned against attacks targeting the Druze minority.

The sectarian violence and Israel's intervention present huge challenges to the Islamist authorities who overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, and follow massacres last month in Syria's Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast.

A US official on Wednesday told the International Court of Justice there were "serious concerns" about the impartiality of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

ICJ judges are holding a week of hearings to help them formulate an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations towards UN agencies delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday to achieve victory in the Gaza war and secure the return of hostages, as Israel remembered its fallen soldiers and civilian victims of attacks.

"In the name of the fallen, and for their sake, we will continue to pursue the mission of victory -- including the return of all our hostages", Netanyahu said in a video statement marking Memorial Day.

At 8:00 pm (1700 GMT), sirens sounded across Israel to mark the start of a minute's silence in honour of its dead.

In her home in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana, Riham Waqqaf spent the night trying to distract her children from the sound of sectarian clashes that have terrified local residents.

"The gunfire didn't stop throughout the night and intensified at dawn," said the 33-year-old humanitarian worker.

She told AFP by telephone on Tuesday that she tried to shield her children, but "turning up the TV volume or giving them my phone to watch video clips... did not help".

A group of Syrian-American Jews prayed in a synagogue in Damascus on Tuesday, an AFP photographer reported, the latest such visit following the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

The trip comes after local community leader Bakhour Chamntoub said unknown assailants broke into and desecrated the tomb of a 17th-century rabbi in Damascus last week.

Visiting Rabbi Henry Hamra led prayers at the Faranj synagogue in Damascus's Old City.

Amnesty International accused Israel on Tuesday of committing a "live-streamed genocide" against Palestinians by forcibly displacing Gazans and creating a humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged territory, claims Israel dismissed as "blatant lies".

Echoing global concern after more than 18 months of war, the United Nations' rights chief Volker Turk meanwhile called on the international community to launch "concerted efforts" to end Israel's total aid blockade on the Gaza Strip, in effect since early March.

Firefighters have brought under control a blaze at Iran's main port, following a deadly explosion blamed on negligence, authorities in the Islamic republic said.

The explosion, heard dozens of kilometres (miles) away, hit a dock at the southern port of Shahid Rajaee on Saturday.

At least 70 people were killed and more than 1,000 others suffered injuries in the blast and ensuing fire, which also caused extensive damage, state media reported.