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Behind Israel's Support for the Druze Lies Goal to Weaken Syria

Israeli Druze look over the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, from its Israeli side at Majdal Shams, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
Israeli Druze look over the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, from its Israeli side at Majdal Shams, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
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Behind Israel's Support for the Druze Lies Goal to Weaken Syria

Israeli Druze look over the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, from its Israeli side at Majdal Shams, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
Israeli Druze look over the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, from its Israeli side at Majdal Shams, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Avi Ohayon

Israel's stated commitment to defending the Syrian Druze is, by the admission of some of its leaders, consistent with a long-term strategic goal -- the weakening of Syria.
Israel, which has occupied part of Syrian territory since 1967, claimed to be protecting the Druze minority to justify several strikes following recent, bloody inter-communal clashes in Syria.

In the aftermath of one strike near the Presidential Palace in Damascus on May 3, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the bombardment should serve as a "clear message".

"We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," he said.

In March, Israel had threatened to intervene if the new government that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad "touched the Druze".

However, according to Andreas Krieg, senior lecturer at King's College London, Israel is not motivated by "altruistic concerns" and is "obviously now using (the minority group) as some sort of pretext to justify their military occupation of parts of Syria".

In a speech last month, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich hinted at the government's intentions, saying the war in Gaza against Hamas would end when "Syria is dismantled", among other goals.

The country's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has confirmed that indirect talks with Israel have taken place "to contain the situation". When questioned by AFP, Israeli diplomats declined to comment.

-'Druze autonomy'-

Entangled in a war with Hamas that has spilled over Israel's borders, Netanyahu has insisted the country is in a fight for its survival and that he is determined to "change the Middle East".

In 2015, while a member of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, advocated the division of Syria into various ethno-religious entities, envisaging "Druze autonomy in southern Syria".

The plan was reminiscent of the division of Syria imposed between the two world wars by France, then the mandatory power. Paris ultimately had to abandon the scheme under pressure from Syrian nationalists, including among the Druze.

Israel's largest neighbor, Damascus fought in three Arab-Israeli wars -- in 1948-1949, June 1967, and October 1973.

The last war cemented Israel's control over most of the Golan Heights, territory which it conquered from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981.

Following Assad's overthrow, Israel moved its forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the Golan and carried out hundreds of strikes against military targets in Syria.

It said its aim was to prevent the transfer of weapons to the new government in Damascus towards which it is openly hostile.

The Druze, followers of a religion that split from Shiite Islam, are mainly found in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

In its official figures, Israel counts around 152,000 Druze, though that includes 24,000 who live in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, of whom fewer than five percent have Israeli citizenship.

Countering Türkiye
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), 126 people were killed during clashes with government security forces last week in predominantly Druze and Christian areas near Damascus and in the Druze stronghold of Suweida in the far south.

After these clashes, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, a Syrian Druze religious leader, called for the deployment of an international protection force and endorsed a community statement asserting that the Druze were "an inalienable part" of Syria.

Within Israel, Druze took part in several demonstrations demanding that the government defend members of their religion in Syria.

While most Druze in the Golan continue to identify as Syrian, the Israeli Druze population has been loyal to the State of Israel since its creation in 1948 and the group is over-represented in the army and police.

"The State of Israel feels indebted to the Druze and their exceptional commitment to the Israeli army," said Efraim Inbar, a researcher at the INSS.

According to Inbar, defending the Druze is also part of the new post-Assad geopolitical landscape in which Israel "is trying to protect the Druze and Kurdish minorities from the Sunni majority and prevent Türkiye from extending its influence to Syria".

In contrast to Israel, Ankara, grappling with its own Kurdish problem, supports the new authorities in Damascus and is keen to prevent the Kurds from consolidating their positions in northeastern Syria, along its border.

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Arab World

Tunisia Flood Death Toll Rises to Five

 A man removes water from his flooded home in La Goulette, near the Tunisian capital Tunis. AFP 
 A man removes water from his flooded home in La Goulette, near the Tunisian capital Tunis. AFP 
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Tunisia Flood Death Toll Rises to Five

 A man removes water from his flooded home in La Goulette, near the Tunisian capital Tunis. AFP 
 A man removes water from his flooded home in La Goulette, near the Tunisian capital Tunis. AFP 

Authorities in Tunisia said flooding caused by three days of exceptional rainfall has killed five people, causing property damage in several provinces and leaving schools and businesses shut and transportation disrupted after parts of the country experienced their heaviest rainfall in years.

The death toll rose to five, Khalil Mechri, a civil defense spokesman told AFP. “Two people swept away by floodwaters, while a woman drowned in her home,” he said.

Mechri said since the flooding started, the emergency services pumped water from 466 inundated homes and have rescued 350 people trapped by floodwaters.

Tunisian media said four fishermen were missing on Wednesday. A fifth was rescued in Teboulba, south of Monastir, while authorities are searching for the remaining crew.

Mechri said while the bad weather was now less intense, “the level of alert remains high.”

President Kais Saied visited several affected areas on Tuesday, including Moknine and Teboulba, local media said.

Footage and videos widely circulated on social media showed significant flooding to homes and roads, with cars stranded in water, particularly in the capital, Tunis.

Authorities suspended classes on Wednesday in public and private schools and universities in 15 of the country's 24 governorates because of the weather. Transportation was also disrupted in several areas.

Abderazak Rahal, head of forecasting at the National Institute of Meteorology (INM), told AFP some Tunisian regions had not seen so much rain since 1950.

“We have recorded exceptional amounts of rainfall for the month of January,” Rahal said, with the regions of Monastir, Nabeul and greater Tunis the hardest hit.

The latest rainfall has proved record-breaking, but Tunisian streets often flood after heavy downpours, largely because of the state of the country's infrastructure.

Drainage and stormwater networks are often old and poorly maintained, particularly in rapidly expanding urban areas, with waste sometimes clogging the system.

Rapid urbanization of some areas has also led to less rainwater being absorbed into the ground, increasing runoff.

The dramatic deluge comes as Tunisia grapples with a seven-year drought, worsened by climate change and marked by a sharp decline in water reserves in dams nationwide.

In neighboring Algeria, several regions have also been hit by massive downpours and floods.

Algerian civil defense authorities said they had recovered the body of a man in his sixties who died in flooding in the northwestern province of Relizane.

Arab World

Lebanon: Israel Launches New Phase of Escalation in the South

Lebanese residents flee after an Israeli air strike on the town of Qennarit in the South on Wednesday (AP). 
Lebanese residents flee after an Israeli air strike on the town of Qennarit in the South on Wednesday (AP). 
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Lebanon: Israel Launches New Phase of Escalation in the South

Lebanese residents flee after an Israeli air strike on the town of Qennarit in the South on Wednesday (AP). 
Lebanese residents flee after an Israeli air strike on the town of Qennarit in the South on Wednesday (AP). 

Israel has intensified its military campaign in areas north of the Litani River in South Lebanon over the past two weeks, carrying out air strikes at least twice a week—well above the tempo seen before the start of the year.

The intensified moves have been accompanied by near-daily surveillance and pursuit operations, signaling a sharper escalation as the Lebanese army prepares to launch the second phase of its plan to place weapons under state control north of the Litani.

After heavy strikes on Monday targeting areas north of the river, the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings on Wednesday afternoon for residents of five towns in southern Lebanon. The alerts came hours after Israeli strikes that killed two people, whom Israel said were Hezbollah members.

Local sources monitoring the developments told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israeli air raids now occur every two to three days — at least twice weekly — double the frequency recorded last year.

Previously, strikes were largely confined to areas south of the Litani and its banks at a rate of about once a week, often on Thursdays. The current campaign includes strikes on valleys and village outskirts, alongside repeated evacuation warnings in several towns north of the river. The warnings increasingly target large buildings and entire neighborhoods, with heavy munitions causing widespread damage to property and surrounding areas.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Israeli army issued evacuation orders in two phases for five villages north of the Litani, triggering the displacement of hundreds of residents. Israeli army Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the military would strike Hezbollah infrastructure to counter what he described as attempts to rebuild its activities in the region.

He identified targets in Jarjoua and Kfar Kila in Nabatieh district and Qennarit in Sidon district, about 40 kilometers from the border, and urged residents to evacuate immediately. After strikes destroyed the targeted buildings and damaged nearby structures, further evacuation orders were issued for Ansar and Zrariyeh, around 30 kilometers from the Israeli border.

The Lebanese army is expected next month to submit a plan to the government outlining mechanisms for disarming Hezbollah north of the Litani, following its announcement that it had dismantled the group’s weapons in border areas south of the river.

Earlier in January, the army said it had completed the first phase of the plan, aimed at placing weapons exclusively under state control, and asserted that it had established operational control over areas south of the Litani — roughly 30 kilometers from the Israeli border — except for territories still under Israeli occupation.

Israel has questioned the adequacy of these measures, describing them as insufficient. Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel was expected to withdraw from South Lebanon but has maintained its presence at five strategic positions, which Lebanon continues to demand it vacate.

Arab World

Lebanese Army Affirms Commitment to Protect Borders with Syria

Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal holds a meeting of the High Supervision Committee on the Border Protection Assistance Program in the presence of British, US and Canadian Ambassadors to Lebanon (Lebanese Army Directorate of Orientation) 
Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal holds a meeting of the High Supervision Committee on the Border Protection Assistance Program in the presence of British, US and Canadian Ambassadors to Lebanon (Lebanese Army Directorate of Orientation) 
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Lebanese Army Affirms Commitment to Protect Borders with Syria

Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal holds a meeting of the High Supervision Committee on the Border Protection Assistance Program in the presence of British, US and Canadian Ambassadors to Lebanon (Lebanese Army Directorate of Orientation) 
Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal holds a meeting of the High Supervision Committee on the Border Protection Assistance Program in the presence of British, US and Canadian Ambassadors to Lebanon (Lebanese Army Directorate of Orientation) 

The Lebanese Army on Wednesday reaffirmed its commitment to protect the border with Syria, stressing that achieving this goal successfully “requires qualitative military support.”

The announcement came in parallel with preparations to hold a fundraising conference in support of the country’s army, scheduled to be held in Paris on March 5.

The Lebanese Army is deployed along its northern and eastern border with Syria, where its forces work on implementing security measures and combat smuggling.

Other tasks include deployment on the southern border with Israel, implementing the Lebanese government’s plan to dismantle all armed militias, as well as protecting internal stability and combating drug smuggling.

In this regard, a meeting of the Higher Supervisory Committee on the Assistance Program for Land Borders Protection was held in Yarzeh, in the presence of Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal, British Ambassador to Lebanon Hamish Cowell, US Ambassador, Michel Issa, Canadian Ambassador Gregory Galligan, and members of the joint working team.

In a statement, the Lebanese Army Command said the meeting highlighted the implemented phases of the program and the necessary steps to support the LAF units tasked with protecting Lebanon’s eastern and northern borders and combat smuggling and illegal activities.

The British embassy said in a statement that the ambassadors underlined the LAF’s pivotal role in maintaining security and stability during a period of significant challenge.

They stressed the need to support the military institutions to further strengthen Lebanon’s security, stability, and territorial integrity.

“The Committee convened to review progress and challenges in securing Lebanon’s eastern and northern borders, and reaffirmed support for the LAF’s (Lebanese Army’s) efforts to reinforce state authority at this critical time,” the British embassy said.

For his part, General Haykal said, “We are committed to protect the borders and we have made many efforts and sacrifices to this end.”

However, he added, “achieving this goal successfully requires qualitative military support, given the size of challenges on the northern and eastern borders.”

Haykal hailed the US, British, and Canadian authorities for their continuous support to the army, which plays a fundamental role in enhancing the capabilities of military units and enabling them to carry out their missions amid the current challenges.