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Israel is arming and financing Druze factions in the southern Syrian governorate of al-Suwayda in an effort to help them unite, Reuters reported on September 16.
Following the fall of the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad last December, Israel vowed to protect Druze in the country, citing its historic relations with its own Druze community. The country also took over the buffer zone adjacent to the occupied Golan Heights, including the peak of Mount Hermon, and demanded the complete demilitarization of southern Syria.
In July, Israel intervened to help Druze factions repel an attack by the forces of the country’s new Islamist-led government and affiliated Bediouin tribes in a battle that left more than 2,000 people dead, including hundreds of Druze civilians who were executed.
Since the massacre, Druze factions have been working to unify in a singal military formation called the National Guard, all while demanding the right to self-determination.
Two senior Syrian Druze commanders who spoke to Reuters said that Israel has been helping to unify splintered Druze factions and had delivered military supplies, including guns and ammunition, to them.
The two Druze commanders and a Western intelligence source also revealed to the news agency that Israel was paying salaries for many of the roughly 3,000 Druze fighters.
Reuters’ report came out as Syria, Jordan and the United States announced a plan to reintegrate al-Suwayda into the country.
“The roadmap for a solution in al-Suwayda includes holding accountable those who attacked civilians, continuing humanitarian and medical aid, compensating those affected, ensuring the return of displaced persons, restoring basic services, deploying local Interior Ministry forces to protect roads, uncovering the fate of missing persons and returning abductees,” Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said in a news release on Tuesday after meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi and U.S. Syria’s envoy Tom Barrack in Damascus.
The roadmap was, however, rejected by the so-called Supreme Legal Committee in al-Suwayda, a body that was formed with backing from Druze factions to oversee administrative matters in the governorate after the massacre.
“The Supreme Legal Committee in Sweida, while categorically rejecting the Syrian Foreign Ministry’s statement, affirms that what happened in July of 2025 were not unfortunate events, as the statement described, but rather full-fledged crimes against humanity. These crimes must not be confronted through local judicial theatrics, but rather through a transparent international process that leads to holding the perpetrators accountable and guaranteeing the al-Suwayda people’s right to freedom and self-determination,” the committee said in a statement.
While Israel appears to be determined to keep supporting the Druze in al-Suwayda, the country remains open to talks with Syria.
A report from Axios released on the same day revealed that Israel had presented Syria with a detailed proposal for a new security agreement regarding southwest Syria, with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer set to meet Shibani in London on September 17 to discuss it.
Dermer and Shibani will be joined by Barrack, according to the report, which noted Damascus has not responded to the proposal, but was formulating a counter-offer.
Citing two officials familiar with the details, Axios said that Israel wants a no-fly zone and demilitarized zone over its border in Syria, with no limits on Israeli deployment on its own territory.
The Israeli proposal is based on its 1979 agreement with Egypt, which divided the Sinai into three zones, each with its own limits on forces, according to the officials.
Another source told the U.S. news website that Israel wants to maintain an air corridor, apparently so that it could more easily strike Iran if needed in the future.
In return, Israel would withdraw in stages from the buffer zone in southern Syria, but would remain on the peak of Mount Hermon.
While both sides appear to be genuinely interested in a security agreement, Israel clearly has the upper hand.Syria is being offered very little, if anything.
Israel does not even appear to be ready to make a compromise on its support for the Druze. The Israeli plan for al-Suwayda is very clear, and it is to turn the governorate into a de-facto state with a capable and unified military formation right on the outskirts of Damascus. Of course this plan wouldn’t have come to life if it was not for the massacres committed by government forces in July.
Despite all the risks, Syria will likely end up accepting all of Israel’s demands in the hope of gaining more international legitimacy. This will in turn encourage Israel to further divide Syria, possibly by supporting the Kurds, who control vast parts of the country’s northern and eastern regions, next.
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israel is doing this to divide and conquer its their goal to steal the land and drive the people away. the druze who are dumb enough to fall for it will eventually get purged by the jews once these useful idoits loose their usefulness and jews will be settled in their houses. the whole plan was to install alqeada jewlani to divide and conquer syria. jewlani dous nothing to rebuild syrias military and oppose israel. assad kept syria safe from invasion until the very end.
a country seeking regional hegemony generally tries to offer something useful to its vassals. israel offers nothing to the region. hate, division and blackmail. that is all. it is a losing strategy. britain and ussa lost their empires from sowing hate and division. jews are not the sharpest tools in the shed. their downfall is their vindictive nature and moronic clinging to throwback failed judaism
france,britain,israel,turkey and usa where using isis excused in syria by attacking russian bases in syria with drones.every time afghanistan scenario failed tats why their are so arrogant nd desperate with fake peace agreement in ukraine to mobilize and dug in.
this usa/nato settlaars of natayahu mileikowski who hijacked god chosen black israel canaanite country are killers serving usa oil nd gas,diamond,gold,meat,tree wealth control monopoly capitalism.
never trust the druze and kurds they are slave of zionist and will remina forever. first they removed assad who dint even want war with kurds and druze and kept them safe whereever possible and now this 2 lol dont even like islamist goverment . they like zionist and west.
the druze were not always like that but now they will seel their arse to the highest bidder.
jews, druze and kurds….the most inbred in the region. and the most incapable of governance
in this case, i think israel is doing the right thing. syria is a failed state without assad. it was a barely functioning one with him. while balkanization is generally bad, the arabs have only themselves to blame.
typical joo victim blaming.
the arabs did absolutely nothing to try and keep assad in power. they do nothing to support the palestinians. arabs would sooner fight each other than fight the joos. there are no victims.
now, dump should give thaad to the kurds instead of zelensky. and then the composition of the kurd&druze government. netanyahu should declare the leader of the kurdish comandante as the president of syria and put the kurdish workers’ party in power for the equality of all syrians and for the rule of the workers’ party and brotherhood and unity.
you are one clever slut.
it’s a bit like nazi germany. you can take all the land you can grab but you need the resources and manpower to defend it. airpower and local allies will only carry you so far. imperial overreach/overstretch. these imbeciles have learned nothing about colonial hubris including three genocides germany.
israel is over extended in every direction and needs more troops to fight its war for banker of control the regions energy. but, they are setting themselves up by making enemies of all. who will conduct decades of gorilla against them? the planners of this may be smart, but are not deep thinkers. vietnam and afghanistan ?
anything to get more mercenaries in the region. war can spin out of control easily in an instant.