IDF Airstrike on Sunni Jihadis Saves Druze

The Druze are ethnically Arab, but practice a religion that is an offshoot of Islam. Sunni Muslims regard them as non-Muslims, and mistreat them accordingly. Right now, the de facto President of Syria, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, has been insisting that in the new Syria, all minorities — the Kurds, Druze, Christians, and Alawites — will be treated as equals with the majority Sunni Muslims. But this claim has not assuaged the alarm felt by those minorities, particularly after the massacre of more than 1,000 Alawites (some Alawites claim there were tens of thousands killed) in Latakia by Sunnis who resent the Alawite support for the regime of Bashar Assad, himself an Alawite. Al-Sharaa’s promise to find those responsible for the attack on the Alawites has so far not led to any arrests.

As for the Druze, they regard with deep mistrust the new regime’s demand that they surrender control of their own militia, which would then be folded within the national army, subject to the control of Sunni Arab officers. The Druze have rejected the offer, well aware that there are only two parties that they can count on for protection. Their own militia is one of the parties; the other is the IDF, which has repeatedly said that it will protect the Druze from attack. This has made the Druze, both those living in the Golan Heights that were annexed by Israel in 1981, and those living inside Syria, in Druze villages just north of the Golan, much more favorable to Israel. The Assad regime fell on December 8, 2024, and by December 13, representatives of six Druze villages had asked that they be annexed by Israel. One Druze village, Hadar, even took a vote among all of its inhabitants; they voted overwhelmingly to be annexed by Israel. It hasn’t happened yet, but it could if the situation in Syria degenerates further.

There has already been an exchange of gunfire, when the false rumor spread that a Druze leader had been recorded denouncing Muhammad. The charge was false; the voice on the recording was not that of the Druze leader. But the fake recording was no doubt made by Sunnis wanting to stir up anger at the Druze. And that’s what happened. Dozens of Sunnis descended on the Druze village of Jaramana; when the fight ended, six Druze and six Sunnis were dead; seventeen others, both Druze and Sunnis, were wounded.

Now the IDF has carried out what it calls a “warning airstrike” against a Sunni group that was threatening Druze in villages just south of Damascus, stopping them in their tracks. More on this IDF move to protect the Druze can be found here.

Israel said it carried out a strike in Syria against extremists who attacked members of the Druze community, following through on a promise to protect the minority group as sectarian violence spread near Damascus on Wednesday.

It appeared to be Israel‘s first military action in support of Syrian Druze since Bashar al-Assad was toppled, reflecting its deep mistrust of the Sunni Islamists who replaced him and posing a further challenge to interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s efforts to establish control over the fractured nation.

A Syrian Interior Ministry source told Reuters Israeli drone strikes targeted government security forces, killing one of their members, in the mainly Druze town of Sahnaya on Damascus’ outskirts. The Druze adhere to a faith that is an offshoot of Islam and have followers in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

But what were government security forces, Sunni Muslims, doing in the largely Druze town of Sahnaya, if not there to intimidate the local Druze? The IDF was alerted to the ongoing attack in the town, either by its own agents on the ground, or from what its drones picked up, or most likely, from the Druze themselves, who had already suffered an attack on the Druze village of Jaramana, and had just endured another attack on the Druze village of Sahnaya. The IDF at once went into action with a “warning operation” with a drone that struck what Prime Minister Netanyahu called “an extremist group” as they were about to launch another attack on the Druze in Sahnaya.

In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military had carried out “a warning operation and struck an extremist group” as it prepared to continue an attack on Druze in Sahnaya.

“At the same time, a message was passed on to the Syrian regime – Israel expects it to act in order to prevent harm to the Druze,” they said….

Israel’s no-nonsense message to Damascus: you must prevent any harm coming to the Druze, or we will do it instead. Pull up your socks, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, shape up and fly right. Because if you don’t protect the Druze, then we in Israel will do it for you, and — it didn’t have to be spelled out, but Al-Sharaa would know what the Israelis meant — we might have to annex Druze villages, allowing them to become part of Israel for their own wellbeing. After all, six Druze villages have been clamoring for that annexation since December 13, 2024.