Washington and Jerusalem have kept a watchful eye on Damascus ever since the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime by Sunni Muslim rebels in December. Of greatest concern has been the level of solidarity the new Syrian government maintains with ISIS — the terrorist organization that Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa had previously pledged his allegiance to — and the new government’s level of tolerance to Syrian minorities, particularly the Alawites and Druze.
Talks of diplomatic normalization have surfaced in recent weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump met Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh in May and outlined the stipulations under which Damascus could be embraced by Washington, which included joining the Abraham Accords with Israel. (RELATED: Despite Recent Wins, Durable Syria–Israel Peace Faces Long Odds)
Following Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last June, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar noted that Iran’s severely weakened hegemony in the region could open the door to new normalizations with Arab neighbors. “We have an interest in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors, to the circle of peace and normalization, while safeguarding Israel’s essential and security interests,” Saar stated during a June 30 press conference.
Recent escalations in southern Syria since the weekend, however, not only cast serious doubt on the hope of diplomatic relations between Israel and Syria, but could widen the gulf of trust between Jerusalem and the new regime in Damascus and reopen significant military conflict between the two countries.
Armed clashes broke out over the weekend in the southern Syrian governorate of Suwayda after a young Druze vegetable seller was kidnapped at a Bedouin checkpoint over tribal disputes related to theft. Tit-for-tat skirmishes and retaliatory kidnappings quickly erupted into armed ethnic conflict as the Suwayda governorate has long been a hotbed of tribal conflicts between the Sunni Bedouin and the Druze community, an esoteric religion that split from Shia Islam.
Druze militia fighters encircled the Bedouin neighborhood of al-Maqwas in the Druze-majority city of Sweida, where the initial kidnapping occurred, which triggered other Bedouin tribes to begin shelling nearby Druze towns and carrying out ground assaults on Druze villages.
On Monday, July 14, the Syrian government deployed forces to the governorate to contain the situation, marking the first time that the new regime deployed troops to Suwayda since they assumed political and military power in December. By the afternoon, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitor organization, reported that Monday’s escalation had taken roughly 100 lives.
According to reports, the Syrian forces were dispatched to aid the Bedouin militias with mortar and rocket support against Druze neighborhoods in Sweida. The new Syrian regime and the Bedouins are both Sunni Muslim and have allied in the recent past to carry out attacks on Druze communities.
By Monday evening, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) stepped in after surveillance detected a convoy of Syrian tanks, armored personnel carriers, and multiple-rocket launch vehicles (MLRS) headed toward the Suwayda region. IAF drones fired on the convoy in a preemptive action to stop them from reaching Sweida, about 25 miles from Israel.
“The presence of such assets in southern Syria may pose a threat to Israel,” the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) stated, reiterating that “the IDF will not allow the establishment of a military threat in southern Syria and will act to prevent it.”
Embedded within Druze culture is a willingness to seek good relations with governing authorities.
According to the Syrian interior ministry, government forces were deployed to Sweida to restore order among “outlawed armed groups.” “Clashes are fundamentally not sectarian in nature,” ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba stated. “The real conflict is between the state and bandits and criminals, not between the state and any Syrian community,” in rebuttal to the allegation that the Syrian army was assisting the Bedouins. Al-Baba went on to say that “the state views the Druze community in Sweida as a partner in advancing the national unity project.”
From one aspect, al-Baba is right. Many of the Druze leaders have shown a willingness to cooperate with the new Syrian regime as they did with Assad’s former government. Embedded within Druze culture is a willingness to seek good relations with governing authorities. By Monday night, the Druze leaders in the Suwayda governorate were calling for a ceasefire and urging their militias to let government forces enter Sweida.
One Druze leader in particular, Sheik Hikmat al-Hijri, has been a hindrance to this unity project by calling out the potential danger that lies waiting once the new regime in Damascus stabilizes.
On Monday, al-Hijri issued a call for “urgent international protection” in the rejection of Syrian forces active in Druze areas.
After an emergency cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Monday night, Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz stated on X that the IAF attack on the Syrian convoy was meant as “a clear warning to the Syrian regime — we will not allow harm to the Druze in Syria. Israel will not stand idly by.”
By Tuesday morning, July 15, Syria’s defense minister announced a ceasefire in Sweida on the claim that leaders of the tribal warring factions had reached an agreement to allow security forces to enter the city. Hours later, however, the conflict continued to escalate, and Katz kept his word not to stand idly by. Later that afternoon, IAF fighter jets bombed government forces and weapons caches that had entered Sweida. In the Golan Heights, near the Israeli Druze city of Majdal Shams, the IDF opened the Quneitra border crossing and facilitated the movement of dozens of armed Israeli Druze into Syria to support the embattled Druze community in Suwayda. (RELATED: ‘Operation Good Neighbor’ Leader Reflects on Israel’s Humanitarian Efforts in Syria)
While Israel has been targeting strategic Syrian military infrastructure and arms since the outbreak of war in Syria, this unprecedented attack on ground forces reiterates Israel’s policy in the region to ensure the safety of the Druze communities and maintain a demilitarized buffer in southern Syria. Jerusalem issued a statement that the IDF was instructed to bomb the ground forces “following the attack on the Druze” and after giving warning shots to stop the convoy the previous day.
“Israel is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria due to the deep brotherly alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel… [and] acting to ensure the demilitarization of the area adjacent to our border with Syria,” a joint statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz stated.
The Druze population numbers about one million, with a majority in Syria, large communities in southern Lebanon, and roughly 120,000 as Israeli citizens living in the Golan Heights and upper Galilee. Druze have a vibrant cultural and patriotic presence in northern Israel, with Druze men serving in the IDF and the youth making a strong presence in northern academic institutions in Haifa.
“The Druze in Israel have forged a bond with the country and with the Jewish people. We are fighting alongside them on all fronts,” said Anwer Amer, former Israeli police officer and mayor of Hurfeish, a Druze city in Galilee. “I expect my state and the Jewish people to reciprocate for everything we’ve done for it and defend our brothers in Syria.”
Jerusalem’s policy presents both a red line for diplomatic normalization with Damascus and reveals a strategic alliance with the Druze to ensure Israel’s national security, so that an “October 7th” is not repeated on Israel’s northern border. According to Sarit Zehavi, founder of the security research center Alma Center in the Galilee, “Building relationships with the Druze of Syria that are living a few tens of kilometers from the border could help ensure the Islamist monster is not growing next to our border.”
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