This Wednesday (16), the Israeli Army bombarded the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense of Syria, located in the capital of the country, Damascus. According to Israel, the objective was to reach the military headquarters from which Syrian authorities plan violent actions against the Druse community.
In recent days, rebels of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS)-a group that currently controls Syria-and other armed militias in the country has invaded the city of Al-Sweida, south, near the Israeli border, and began direct attacks on the Drudos living in the region.
The newspaper Times of Israel He stated that witnesses reported that the Syrian government forces eventually joined Bedouins to attack the Druses in a bloody wave around the city.
In addition to the approximately 30 clashes, the Syrian rebels tortured, humiliated and executed Drudos in the city, according to the reports. The answer came through Israel, with attacks started on Tuesday and intensified on Wednesday, even reaching Damascus targets and government buildings.
The objectives of the Israeli offensive are clear: to protect the Druse community – even attacking military targets in the capital from which Syrian commanders direct their operations against this community – to ensure the demilitarization of the border and, according to the Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister, to prevent Syria from becoming a “according to Lebanon.”
But who are the Druses, why are Syrian rebels attacking them and what explains Israel acted militarily to defend them?
Who are the Druses?
Originally from Egypt in the 11th century, the Druses were born from an esoteric strand of Islam, and therefore ended up greatly different from Muslim belief. The group practices a dissident branch that does not allow conversions – neither inside nor out of religion – and mixed marriages. Even speaking Arabic, they prefer to live in the mountains, because they think they are more protected.
The community eventually became a secret group, also for fear of persecution by Islamic religious fanatics – a factor that contributed to the permanence of a mysterious aura around their beliefs.
Monotheists and influenced by various currents of thinking of the uprising and the Mediterranean, including Greek philosophy, traditionally adapted to the conditions of the places where they lived, as a way to ensure their survival, especially in Israel.
Until 1948, before the formation of the State of Israel, the Druses had no autonomy or recognition of their specificities in the region. However, after the creation of Israel, they joined the Israeli society, and to enlist the Defense Forces of Israel (FDI) and have guarantees of security, political representativeness and access to public office.
Between 2014 and 2015, for example, the Israeli Ambassador in Brazil was Reda Mansour, of Druse origin and born in the village of Isfiya, in the north of the country.
Military participation is one of the main differences of the Drudos in relation to other minorities living in Israel, such as Muslims and Christians, exempt from compulsory military service.
Statistics indicate that 60% of Drudos men have served the Israeli Armed Forces, both in wars from independence and current combat against Islamic terrorist groups.
Druses have also acted as military interpreters, due to the mastery of the Arabic language. Thus, though little numerous, they became the minority most influential and identified with Israel.
For a short period in 2007, the parliamentarian Drus Majalli Wahabi even interimly occupies the presidency of Israel during the absence of the holder. In this way Wahabi became the first non-Jew to serve as head of state in Israel’s history, something remarkable in the history of the Druse and the country community.
Currently, besides Israel, there is a significant Druse community in Lebanon and Syria, and its population approaches 1 million.
“Israel is home to 200,000 Drusos, this includes those living in the Golhan and Drusos hills in Galilee. Israel is a multiethnic country with several minorities, a liberal democracy. Druses are also a minority in Lebanon and Syria – which concentrates the largest population in the region, with over 500,000 people,” says André Lajst, political scientist and president of StandWhus. Brazil.
Region of historical importance for both countries, about 20,000 Drudos live in the hills of Golhan, a strategic plateau won by Israel in 1967 during the six -day war after clashes with Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
Why are the Syrian rebels crashing conflicts against the Druse community?
Following the fall of the Bashar Al-Saad dynasty, Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Al-Jolani, promised to include socially and protect all diverse and minority communities in the country.
However, what is the opposite is the opposite: HTS extremist forces and other loyal rebels to the country’s leadership continued to violently confront religious minorities, including the Druse community. On social networks, extremists share videos of abuse and humiliations.
In March this year, rebel forces killed hundreds of people, including religious minorities and Assad supporters.
The main issue for Al-Jolan involves unifying, along with the country’s various rebel militias, their own army. However, Drusa militias refuse to surrender their weapons and insist on staying independent.
Al-Jolan, leader of HTS, who controls Syria (Photo: Efe/Epa/Giuseppe Lami)The Drusa community, which opposed the previous regime, maintains caution when supporting al-jalani-whose history includes passing through the terrorist jihadist group al-Qaeda. Members of the Israeli government have already publicly expressed the desire to eliminate the HTS leader.
This is the case of the Minister for Diaspora and Anti-Semitism Affairs of Israel, Amichai Chikli, who on Tuesday classified Al-Jolani as “terrorist” and “barbaric killer” and openly expressed that he wants his elimination.
“We should not be in our arms crossed before the Islamic-Nazi terrorist regime of al-Qaeda, tender and tie. Those who think Ahmed al-Sharaa is a legitimate leader is deeply mistaken. He is a terrorist, a barbaric killer who should be eliminated immediately,” Chikli said in a post at X.
The local Druse community expresses extreme concern about the exclusion of its leaders in the process of dialogue with Al-Jolani and in the construction of a national government.
On Wednesday, after the announcement of a ceasefire that lasted less than one day, the Ministry of Defense stated that “illegal groups”-referring, among others, to the Drusa community-resumed attacks against government forces, causing retaliation. The information was released by the state news agency Sana.
Lajst states that the Drusa community in Syria “is being constantly attacked after the fall of Bashar Al-Aasad’s regime” by the Syrian rebels.
“The Syrian army, in fact, is a set of armed rebel forces that are often totally disconnected from central power in Damascus. They often do guerrilla actions, terrorist attacks, killing, mutilating and oppressing minorities that are not Sunni like these armed rebels,” says the expert.
Why did Israel take the defense of the Druses?
Shortly after the new conflicts involving the persecution of the Druse community, Netanyahu was emphatic in claiming that Israel was “committed to preventing damage to the Druses in Syria,” highlighting the “deep fraternal alliance” between Israeli citizens and the drushed people. He also stressed the “family and historical ties with the Drudos” in the Syrian territory.
A boy on the shoulders of his father shakes two Druz flags during a demonstration against the controversial “Nation State Law” in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on August 4, 2018. Tel Aviv City Hall building was illuminated with the colors of the Drusa Community Flag. (Photo: EFE/EPA/JIM HOLLANDER)In addition, Israel opposed the presence of rebel forces near its border with Syria, stating that “it prohibits the introduction of forces and weapons in the south of the country.”
The statement was seen by Syrian leadership as a violation of Syrian sovereignty and, also last Tuesday, Drus’s spiritual leader, Hikmat Al-Hijri, called for international protection from “all countries” to “face the Barbara campaign” of government and allied forces “using all possible means.”
“We are facing a complete extermination war,” said Al-Hijri.
On Wednesday, the conflict climbed and arrived in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The FDI, which had previously attacked places near the border region, bombed the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense of the neighboring country and the surroundings of the presidential palace in the capital.
The Israeli army explained that the target site is the military headquarters from which Syrian commanders direct their operations against the Druses in the southern province of Al-Sweida, southern Syria, while announced at least another attack against another military target near the presidential palace.
Still on Wednesday, Chaos also settled on the Israeli border, after thousands of Israeli Drudos, residents of the Golhan hills, tried to cross the border in an attempt to assist the attacked people by the rebels.
According to local press, the FDI acknowledged that border police crossed the border to bring the Druses back to Israel.
Netanyahu spoke, asking the Drudos residents in Israel that they do not cross the border, warning them that “they can be killed or kidnapped.”
“You are risking your lives, can be murdered, kidnapped and are harming FDI’s efforts,” said the prime minister.
The FDI “will continue to operate vigorously in Al-Sweida to destroy the forces that attacked the Druses to their full withdrawal,” added defense minister Israel Katz, who shared an X video showing the exact moment of Israeli bombing in Damascus recorded in a live Syrian report.
For André Lajst, the recent events “show the total uncontrolled that the Syrian central government has in relation to its strength.”
He states that the purpose of the Israeli offensive is “to send a very clear message to the new Syrian regime, which will not tolerate attacks on these Syrian forces against the Druse community.”
“Apparently, this message has been understood and a ceasefire should be agreed to prevent the druses from being attacked by Syrian forces,” he projects.
Asked about the possibilities of future ties between Israel and the new Syrian government led by Al-Jolani, Lajst states that “it is early to say what are the real intentions of the new government and the capacities he has to control the entire Syrian territory, unify the various factions and populations and be able to build a democratic government that protects human rights within the country.”
“Israel, as well as other Western powers, will analyze this. It is in general interest of the Israeli government to maintain relationships with all neighbors and to unleash violent situations so that there is peace in the region. But all care is little, since this new government has proven that it has no control of its entire territory and has no control of all populations that live within the Syrian territory,” Alert Lajst.
“There is a lot of work to be done on the part of the Syrian government so that Western powers and the free world will rely on the stability and continuity of this government.”
