A prominent Druze leader in Lebanon said Sunday that he would soon visit Syria to meet its interim leader as tensions simmer between members of the minority group, the war-torn country’s interim government, and Israel, which is also home to a Druze community with close family ties to those in Syria.

“The free Syrians must be cautious of the plots of Israel,” veteran Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said at a news conference Sunday, accusing Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of creating sectarian division and chaos in the country. “In Syria, there is a plot for sabotage. There is a plot for sabotage in the region and for the Arabs’ national security.”

According to reports from Syria, authorities from the new Syrian government have been clashing with local Druze gunmen during a security campaign in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus. At least one Syrian officer was killed, while another was captured and later released, the reports said.

Israeli leaders have publicly warned Syria’s government not to harm the Druze in southwestern Syria, and have regularly spoken with foreign leaders about the importance of protecting them, along with Syria’s Kurds.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Saturday that he was instructing the military to prepare to defend Jaramana and protect the Druze.

“We will not allow the extreme Islamic regime in Syria to harm the Druze. If the regime harms the Druze, it will be struck by us,” Katz said.

“We are committed to our Druze brothers in Israel to do everything to prevent harm to their Druze brothers in Syria, and we will take all the steps required to maintain their safety.”

Since the downfall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December at the hands of an Islamist-led rebel coalition, Israel has pushed its forces into southern Syria, taking over a buffer zone that had previously been controlled by the UN and establishing at least nine military posts, to be held indefinitely, demanding southern Syria’s “full demilitarization.”

In the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida, many who protested against the Assad government in recent years have also protested against Israel’s airstrikes and military push into the country.

The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam.

Over half of the roughly one million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed in 1981.

Defense Minister Katz confirmed Thursday that Israel is looking into allowing Syrian Druze to work inside Israel on a daily basis, saying the Jewish state is “preparing to provide them with assistance through organizations and in various ways.”

Jumblatt is one of Lebanon’s most prominent political leaders and arguably the Mideast’s most powerful Druze figure. He is both an outspoken critic of Israel and a supporter of the Palestinians, but also spoke out against the Assad dynasty in Syria.

He last visited Syria in December, days after a lightning insurgency led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham overthrew Assad, and met with interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa. In 2015, during the Syrian civil war, Jumblatt negotiated with Syrian opposition in Idlib, following reports of persecution and attacks on the Druze who lived in the northwestern province by extremist groups.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.