Israel, the Druze and Syria’s reign of lies

Many people in Israel and overseas are trying to understand what the role of Israel should be in the dramatic events involving the Druze in Syria and the new government in Damascus. To do so, we have to look at the unfolding saga of the relationship between the Syrian minorities and the Al-Shara government.

The Syrian regime is trying to impose by force an extreme Sunni regime on the four significant minorities in Syria: Alawites, Druze, Kurds, and Christians. There are, of course, many other small minorities who do not dare to speak out right now, such as the Ismailis, the Yazidis, and others.

It began with the massacre of Alawites in the coastal areas, which was prompted by the accusation that they were planning a rebellion against the Al-Shara regime. This story was fabricated, and under this pretext, all the Islamist factions in Syria mobilized to come to the Alawite area, massacre them in the streets, kidnap their women, and rob their homes and businesses.

After the suppression of the Alawites, the government of Syria incited the Bedouin tribesmen against the Kurds and pretended not to be involved in the matter for fear of the American reaction. The attacks failed, so they tried to reach a compromise agreement with the Kurds. The Kurds withdrew from the agreement after discovering that it was impossible to trust the regime in Damascus.

The spiritual leader of Syria’s Druze community in Suwayda Hammoud al-Hennawi speaks during the funeral of members of the Syrian minority who were killed in recent sectarian clashes, in Salkhad village in the country’s southern Suwayda governorate on May 3, 2025. (Shadi AL-DUBAISI / AFP)

After failing with the Kurds, the regime began inciting against the Druze. Social media in Syria has been flooded for some time with calls to wipe out the Druze, to massacre them, to burn their villages. The regime seems neither to see nor hear. A fabricated recording of a Druze speaker cursing the Prophet Muhammad, which apparently came from Turkey, was the excuse for the current attack.

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The regime in Damascus pretends to be moderate and innocent in the international and Arab media and lies about its intentions and actions on the ground: they lied about disbanding the militias; they moved under their direction and came all the way from Edlib in the north to Jaramana. Then they lied about the role of foreign Islamist terrorists in the new security forces. And finally, their biggest lie is about the integration of minorities. Instead, they built a sectarian jihadist establishment.

Druze and Jewish (photo courtesy Daniel Faris)

Israel’s interests in this situation are threefold: A. Israel owes the Druze-Jewish alliance at least the obligation to apply diplomatic pressure and air cover to the Druze in Syria, and this is what it has been doing. B. Israel has to be vigilant with a regime whose people came from ISIS and needs to keep it in check all the time, and not wait for a Syrian Hamas-style invasion of the kind seen on October 7, 2023. Strategically, Israel must mark a zone of interest in southern Syria that will balance what Qatar and Turkey are building in northern Syria.

Jews are a small minority in the Middle East, and the alliance of minorities has never been more necessary than today. Israel is an essential player in protecting minorities and thus in protecting itself.