An Israeli Air Force helicopter ferried humanitarian aid to Syrian Druze in the Sweida area of southern Syria on Friday night, a defense source confirmed Saturday.
The aid delivery came amid Israeli warnings to Syria’s new Islamist rulers not to harm their country’s Druze minority following deadly sectarian clashes. Israel is home to some 150,000 Druze and has vowed to protect their “brothers” in Syria.
Syrian media reported that the IAF helicopter landed in the Sweida area, some 70 kilometers from Israel’s border.
It apparently marked the first time that the military has used a helicopter to bring aid Syrian Druze.
The move was approved by the political echelon, the source said.
Also on Saturday, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews said it delivered, via the IDF, some 1,500 packages of food for Druze and Christian Syrians in villages near the Israeli border.
The non-profit said it would also deliver medical equipment soon, in coordination with the IDF.
The delivery of the aid came as the IDF also evacuated five more Syrian Druze, who were apparently wounded during sectarian violence in the country, to a hospital in Israel.
The five were taken to Ziv Hospital in Safed, where at least 10 other wounded Syrian Druze were taken in recent days.
One Syrian Druze man, 37, who was evacuated from Syria, said his back was injured when he jumped from a height of 12 meters to escape violence.
“It’s a full circle for me to be in the hospital in Israel. My grandfather grew up here, and I have family in Rameh,” he said in a statement issued by the hospital, referencing the northern Arab town.
The military said troops were “deployed to southern Syria and prepared to prevent hostile forces from entering the area and Druze villages.”
“The IDF continues to monitor the developments, while maintaining readiness for defense and different scenarios,” the military added.
Also on Friday night, the Israeli Air Force carried out a wave of airstrikes in Syria. According to the military, 12 IAF fighter jets struck dozens of targets in Syria, including anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile infrastructure.
In recent days, clashes have been taking place between Druze fighters and Syrian forces, including government-affiliated groups, in the Damascus suburbs of Jaramana and Sweida province in southern Syria. Sweida is the heartland of the Druze religious group.
Unconfirmed reports have put the death toll from the fighting at over 100.
Israel’s Druze took to the streets late Thursday and early Friday to demand that Jerusalem take action to support their brethren in Syria. The demonstrations subsided after Israeli Druze leader Sheikh Muafak Tarif and Druze lawmaker Hamed Amar called on the protesters to stand down.
Syria’s government has vowed to protect minorities and rejected calls for international intervention. On Friday, Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, met with Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, an ally of Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah who has urged his Syrian kinsfolk to reject “Israeli interference.”
Israel has attacked hundreds of military sites in Syria since forces led by Sharaa deposed Syria’s longtime leader Bashar Al-Assad, in December. Citing potential danger following the ouster, Israel sent troops into the Syrian side of the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries.
Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.