A Promise Kept: Israel Moves to Defend the Druze Across the Border

John Spencer 

Photo by Lihi Marom – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

In the early hours of Thursday morning, Israeli fighter jets struck military targets near the Syrian presidential palace in Damascus. The strike came after days of escalating attacks against Druze communities in Syria by jihadist elements believed to be aligned with Syria’s newly formed Islamist-led government. It was also the clearest message yet that Israel considers the protection of the Druze—both inside its borders and across them—not just a moral duty, but a strategic commitment.

“This is a clear message to the Syrian regime,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement. “We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.”

Katz added separately: “It is our duty to protect the Druze in Syria from harm—for the sake of our Druze brothers in Israel, their loyalty to the state, and their immense contribution to Israel’s security.”

The Druze are a small, tightly knit ethnoreligious group whose origins trace back to the 10th century. Their faith is monotheistic but distinct—esoteric, closed to conversion, and deeply committed to loyalty to the state in which they live. The community numbers just over 1 million across the Middle East, including approximately 150,000 in Israel.

In Israel, Druze citizens serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in combat units, the Border Police, intelligence branches, and senior command. Their loyalty has never been abstract—it is proven on the battlefield and enshrined in the graves of fallen Druze IDF soldiers across the country.

The events that set this week’s escalation in motion occurred not in Syria, but in northern Israel. On July 27, 2024, Hezbollah fired a rocket that landed on a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, killing 12 children and wounding over 30 others. For weeks, Hezbollah had launched near-daily rockets and drones into Israel’s north, displacing tens of thousands and forcing entire towns to evacuate. But the killing of Druze children—noncombatants—marked a breaking point. It triggered not a limited reprisal, but a sustained Israeli campaign that methodically degraded Hezbollah’s military-political leadership through high-value precision strikes, fractured its operational communications by exposing key command nodes—including the now-infamous “Beeper” and walkie-talkie deception—and neutralized the group’s most treasured asset: its long-range rocket stockpiles, many hidden in reinforced subterranean bunkers once thought impervious.

But Israel’s month-long assault on Hezbollah had a secondary effect few anticipated: it left Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dangerously exposed. For over a decade, Assad had relied heavily on Hezbollah fighters—trained, armed, and embedded alongside Syrian forces—to hold critical terrain and suppress opposition movements. But as Israel dismantled Hezbollah’s command centers, eliminated senior field commanders, and forced the group to redirect its remaining forces northward to defend its strongholds in Lebanon, Assad was left without the reinforcements he had once depended on. With Hezbollah redeploying away from key sectors in southern Syria and around Damascus, rival militias and Islamist factions quickly exploited the vacuum. Already isolated and weakened, Assad’s regime collapsed within weeks—its territorial control evaporating and its political center buckling under pressure. What ultimately brought down Syria’s long-standing dictator was not just internal opposition, but the absence of his most capable proxy army.

The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024 created a power vacuum in Syria. In the months since, jihadist factions—including those with links to the new government—have intensified attacks on minorities, especially the Druze. Druze towns like Sahnaya, Jaramana, and Suwayda have faced shelling, executions, and forced displacement. With Syrian army units abandoning positions and central authority collapsing following Assad’s fall in the south, vulnerable regions—including the Syrian side of Mount Hermon—were left exposed.

Israel responded.

Following the collapse of Assad’s army in the south, the IDF moved quickly to secure the Golan frontier. Israeli forces deployed along the border and into former Syrian military zones around Mount Hermon to prevent hostile forces from occupying the terrain or threatening Israel and nearby Druze communities.
In conjunction with last week’s strikes on Damascus, the IDF publicly confirmed that it is “deployed to southern Syria and prepared to prevent hostile forces from entering the area and Druze villages.” Israeli medical units have also quietly evacuated wounded Syrian Druze across the border for treatment—part of an ongoing policy that has saved hundreds of lives since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

This week, the Israeli Air Force carried out a significant humanitarian mission, airlifting aid to the Druze community in Syria’s Suwayda District—located roughly 70 kilometers from the Israeli border. The delivery marked the first time an Israeli transport helicopter had flown that distance to provide food and relief supplies to Syrian Druze. Approved by Israel’s political leadership, the operation aimed to help the community cope with severe shortages. The mission underscores not just military protection but sustained humanitarian solidarity with the Druze amid Syria’s unraveling.

After the Damascus strike, Prime Minister Netanyahu also spoke directly with Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze in Israel. Sheikh Tarif expressed deep gratitude for the decisive action, particularly the strike on the Presidential Palace compound— symbolic and strategic show of force. Their conversation was more than ceremonial—it reflected a consistent, operational Israeli policy toward its Druze citizens and their kin across the border.

The U.S. State Department issued a statement condemning the violence against Syrian Druze, calling it “reprehensible and unacceptable,” and urging the interim Syrian authorities to “ensure the security of all Syrians.”

But words are not enough. Israel acted.

The Druze in Israel have been tested many times. They have never wavered. In return, Israel’s promise to them—to see them as full citizens, to protect their lives, to honor their sacrifices—is not contingent on borders.

Syria’s political future may remain fragmented and fragile. But Israel’s commitment to protect the Druze—on both sides of the border—has never been clearer.