The Druze are an ethno-religious people, belonging to an 11th century offshoot of Shi’a Islam, a people whom orthodox Muslims do not consider to be Muslims at all. They live in Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. Just now, the Druze have been fighting with the Bedouin Sunnis who live near them in the Druze stronghold of Suweyda, in southern Syria; the fighting began when a Druze merchant was robbed and abducted. The Druze counterattacked, and more than 100 have been killed on both sides. The Sunni government of Ahmed Al-Sharaa decided to send in tanks to suppress the Druze and thereby bring calm to the area. But Israel had other ideas. The IDF has stopped the Syrian army literally in its tracks by bombing several tanks, APCs, and roads, leading the Syrians to quickly withdraw. “Syria asserts right to defend itself from Israeli attacks amid carnage in Druze area,” Times of Israel, July 15, 2025:
Syria on Tuesday condemned Israel’s airstrikes on the southern province of Sweida, which targeted government forces as they entered the region where bloody sectarian clashes with local Druze militias have raged in recent days….
Earlier Tuesday, Israel carried out a heavy bombing campaign against Syrian government forces as they were rolling into the Druze-majority Sweida, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said was meant to protect “the Druze in Syria due to the deep brotherly alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel.”…
According to Channel 12, Israel had warned interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa not to harm the Druze population ahead of its recent strike on regime targets….
The mainly Druze residents of Sweida had hoped the arrival of government forces on Tuesday would spell an end to deadly sectarian clashes with local Bedouin tribes.
Instead they spoke of executions, looting and arson as government troops and their allies rampaged through Druze neighborhoods, prompting thousands from the religious minority to flee.
“Government forces entered the city on the pretext of restoring order… but unfortunately they indulged in savage practices,” said Rayan Maarouf, editor in chief of the Suwayda 24 news website.
“There have been cases of civilians being killed… dozens of them… but we don’t have precise figures,” he added, blaming government fighters and their allies…..
The minorities are right to be suspicious of Ahmed al-Sharaa. Sunni troops, including some who belonged to Al-Sharaa’s former rebel group, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in March attacked the Alawites in their stronghold of Latakia, killing at least 1500, mostly civilians, because during Assad’s regime the Alawites were overrepresented in the government and the military, especially in the officer corps; Assad himself was an Alawite. Al-Sharaa did nothing either to halt the killings in Latakia; nor has he yet punished those responsible for the massacres. Christians, too, feel insecure. Sunnis have murdered individual Christians, and a Sunni suicide bomber blew up the ancient Greek Orthodox church of Mar Elias (St. Elias), killing 25 worshippers and wounding 80 more.
Given these events, the Druze are properly suspicious of the government in Damascus, and have refused to allow their own militia to become part of the Syrian army. And now they have a powerful protector: Israel. Israelis feel they owe it to the Druze to protect them. In Israel. the Druze are the only non-Jewish group who routinely serve in the military; the Druze have been exceptionally good soldiers in the IDF, fighting side by side with Israeli Jews. They have become officers, rising as high as Major-General Ghassan Alian, the head of COGAT. And the Israelis are grateful for their loyalty, and eager to help out Druze in Syria as well.
The Druze on Israel’s side of the Golan Heights for a long time did not embrace Israeli rule. They were worried about what might happen to their relatives inside Syria if they showed themselves to be too favorable to the Zionists. And they were also worried that perhaps Israel would hand back the part of the Golan it had conquered in the Six-Day War to Syria, so that it would be best to remain noisily pro-Syrian. However, several things have changed the attitude of the Druze in the Golan. First, in 1981, Israel annexed the part of the Golan it then possessed. There was no longer any reason to fear that Israel might give up that territory in a peace settlement. Secondly, twenty-five thousand Israelis moved to the Golan, where they brought economic opportunities for the Druze, and proved to be good neighbors. Druze attitudes in the Golan became ever warmer toward Israel.
After the fall of Assad, the Druze inside Syria saw ever more clearly that while they had nothing to fear from the Israelis — their relatives inside Israel let them know how they were faring, sometimes just by yelling their news across the border. Their view of Israel improved constantly, as they realized the IDF was the one military that was prepared to protect them.
And that is what Israel is now doing. It has kept the Syrian army at bay, with attacks on Syrian tanks, APCs, and roads that caused the Syrian forces to turn back from trying to take Suweyda.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I’m not surprised at HTS going after the Alawites, or even the Christians, despite Ahmad al-Shara’a’s photo-op w/ President Trump. However, given that Israel had made it clear that they’ll protect the Druze not only within Israel itself, but in Syria as well, I am a tad surprised that they decided to test whether or not Jerusalem had a “Red Line” w/ them
Anyway, good for Israel for sending the HTS regime a clear message of what won’t be tolerated at its border. It also makes it more likely that Israel will vacate the buffer zones that they occupied when the Assad regime, w/ whom they had an agreement, collapsed
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Forgot to add…
3…2…1…
Waiting for our wannabe Nobel Laureate to force both Jerusalem & Damascus into a ceasefire. After all, if it worked so well w/ Iran, why not Syria, where he had the pleasure of meeting their strongman, unlike in the case of Iran, where he hasn’t met either Khamenei or Pezeshkian
Bill Buckley III says
What a strange upside down world we find ourselves in. The “colonizers” from Israel will be the only force in the world to put their wives on the line to protect the Druze and the Christians in Syria well the mainstream media in Europe, and America will characterize it as ambitious aggression backed by America. IDF do the right thing no matter what. The Islamo Facists need to be put down wag rabbit animals. Whatever it takes.
John Smith says
Kudos to Israel for taking the side of the Druze, but why? they are not their Jewish brethren they are Aabic muslims. Granted the Druze in Syria have strong connections and historical ties to the Druze living in Israel, but that’s all they have in common. Doesn’t Israel have enough on its plate at the moment without taking the side of muslims, who are the sworn enemy of the Jews. I just can’t understand it, there must be some other reason.
Cynthia says
Of course there is another reason. The jihadists are moving ever closer to the Israeli border when they defeat the Druze. They will be the next in a long line of Islamic groups to attack the Jewish nation.
John Smith says
That’s exactly what it is Cynthia, but I believe the real problem here is not Ahmed al-Shharaa and his jihadi’s, but Erdogan of Turkey. Once a pathway has been cleared Israel will be open to a land invasion from Turkey.
W.F. Buckley the 3rd says
Israel is doing this for two really simple reasons: 1. It has a large (for Israel) Druze population, who are good and loyal citizens with an outstanding record in the IDF (I have personally met with a former Druze general. You could not find a finer man/soldier and he understands well why Israelis, Jews, Druze, Christians and otherwise, need to remain ever vigilant); and 2. Because is a Middle East suffused with terrorism and terrorists, it is simply the right thing to do. Many speak of standing up for Western Civilization and a Judeo-Christian ethic. Israelis (unlike most) are willing to risk their lives to standard athwart the onslaught of these jihadist pigs and yell STOP! And by the way: FJB and Hunter too! Come to think of same for the vile Obammys, Clintons and all American leftists. 25 years post 9/11 and idiots in NYC are considering the possibility of electing that MORON jihadi as their mayor. Gives a whole new meaning the phrase “lost generation” Glad I have raised two dyed in the wool conservatives/Constitutionalists. God bless America and Israel too.
memi says
Israel is protecting minorities in “Syria” from the Jihadist “Wanted for $10Million” Terrorist “president” al-Jolani-Sharaa and his gang of beheaders. After all, he was a Chief Beheader of “infidels” in so many countries.
Assad was “Mother Teresa” compared to this “chosen” by Turkey Jihadist whose terrorist gang of Jihadist Army massacred thousands of Alawites and Christians March 7th in the coastal cities to enable Erdogan to instlal his airforce base there.
It is unfathomable and reprehensible that Pres. Trump and EU’s “dear Leader Ursual” shake hands with this anti-Semitic, Christianophobic Kurd-Alwaite-Druze Killer. The Syrian regime will soon be destabilized in the hands of these monsters that EU “leaders” feel are “protecting minorities”.
Between massacres of Alawites and Druzes, they also managed to bomb the Church of Prophet Elias in Damascus and 100 Greek Orthodox Churchgoers were killed when the suicide bomber exploded in the Church during prayers.
Is Trump’s Christian base not offended by all these atrocities against the vulnerable minorities of Druzes, Alawites and Christians? They know that the Kurds’ 100,000 army of capable men and women are too strong to attack, but these Jihadist monsters will keep on committing atrocities, rapes, looting, tortures and killings en masse until they get blasted out of Syria.
And anyone who is left with no doubts as to what evil al-Jolani Sharaa, chief beheader of Al-Qaeda and chief of its offshoot HST, is capable of, better support the IDF’s brave move to defend the Druzes againstt these Islamofascist monsters of “Syria’s Jihadist Army”. That is, the terrorist proxies (funded by Turkey & Qatar) and coming from all four corners of the earth to to their “job” for the New “Jihadist Syria”!