Israel carried out precision air raids in southern Syria on Wednesday, killing a minimum of 15 officials from Syria’s defense and interior ministries, local sources said. The raids targeted Syrian government troops and defense ministry facilities in Damascus and southern parts of the country.
The military response follows heightened sectarian fighting in the Druze-populated Sweida province, which entered its fourth day. The fatal clashes have left more than 350 dead since the weekend, with 79 Druze militiamen and 55 civilians among the fatalities, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu justified the raid, saying the airstrikes were initiated “to save our Druze brothers” from Syria’s new government. Netanyahu charged that the current leadership under interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa is “disguised jihadists” and emphasized that Israel “will not allow them to move their forces into southern Syria.”
The Syrian foreign ministry denounced the Israeli action as “treacherous aggression.” Israel has been blamed by the government for intervening in Syria’s internal affairs during continued unrest in the wake of the removal of long-time President Bashar al-Assad in December last year.
By Israeli authorities, airstrikes were initiated because Syrian government troops not only refused to stop attacks against the Druze community but also became involved in the attacks. An Israeli official stated, “Tel Aviv was compelled to act as Syrian forces were part of the issue.”
Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel’s affinity with the Druze, both historically and in terms of its Druze citizens. “Israel is determined to prevent harm to Syria’s Druze because of the deep brotherly bond with our Druze citizens in Israel, and their historical and family connections to the Druze in Syria,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
Violent tensions persist in Sweida, where Syrian regime forces moved in on Monday to suppress conflict between Druze militias and militia-armed Bedouin elements. Despite a short-lived announcement of a ceasefire on Wednesday, it did not last long.
Who are the Druze?
The Druze practice a distinct monotheistic faith that evolved in the 10th century as a branch of Ismaili Shiite Islam. More than half of the world’s estimated 1 million Druze live in Syria, chiefly in Sweida, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus. Large numbers of Druze also live in Israel and Lebanon.
