The Israel Defense Forces has launched an attack on a Syrian extremist group preparing to target Druze in the country’s Damascus province, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced Wednesday afternoon.
“The IDF carried out a warning operation and struck an organization of an extremist group that was preparing to continue attacks against the Druze population” of Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed in the statement.
The Jewish state had conveyed a “stern message to the Syrian regime—Israel expects it to act to prevent harm to the Druze,” the statement continued.
Jerusalem “will not allow harm to the Druze community in Syria, out of a deep commitment to our Druze brothers in Israel, who are bound by family and historical ties to their Druze brothers in Syria,” it added.
“On this Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel’s Wars—a day when we honor the significant contribution of the Druze community to Israel’s security and remember the Druze fallen who risked their lives defending the State of Israel—we see great importance in fulfilling our commitment to the Druze community in Israel and in protecting their brethren in Syria,” the statement continued.
Earlier on Wednesday, the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Muwaffaq Tarif, urged the Jewish state and its people to prevent the killing of his brethren in Syria at the hands of the regime.
“This moment, the eyes and hearts of the Druze community are turned toward the harm being done to Druze villages around Damascus,” he wrote, calling on “the State of Israel, the international community and the Jewish people to act now, immediately, to prevent a mass slaughter.”
“The State of Israel must not stand by as mere spectators in light of what is happening right now in Syria,” added the Druze sheikh in his missive.
Tarif’s statement came as dozens of Druze blocked roads in northern Israel, calling on Jerusalem to intervene across the border with Syria.
Also on Wednesday, Israeli Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush told mourners gathered at the Hurfeish military cemetery for Memorial Day that the government was aware about the “terrible situation in Syria” and would work to ensure that “nobody hurts the Druze in Syria.”
“We know the covenant between the Druze and Jews is a covenant of life,” the ultra-Orthodox government minister noted in his remarks.
Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen made similar remarks during a ceremony in the Druze-majority city of Maghar in the Sea of Galilee area, stating, “The alliance between the Jewish people and the Druze transcends borders.” Cohen added, “Israel will not sit idly by if there is an attempt to harm Druze beyond the country’s borders.”
The latest deadly clashes in Syria were sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze man who purportedly cursed the Prophet Mohammed, according to reports by Agence France-Presse.
Last month, Netanyahu and Katz warned the government in Damascus that if it harmed the Druze community, Israel would retaliate militarily.
“We will not allow the terrorist regime of radical Islam in Syria to harm the Druze. We have instructed the IDF to prepare and deliver a harsh and clear warning: If the regime harms the Druze, it will be harmed by us,” the two Israeli leaders said in a joint statement issued on March 1.
“We are committed to our Druze brothers in Israel to do everything to prevent harm to their Druze brothers in Syria, and we will take all necessary measures to ensure their safety,” the statement added.
Netanyahu and Katz instructed the military to prepare to defend the city of Jaramana, located about 1.8 miles southeast of Damascus, in the Rif Dimashq (“Damascus Suburb”) Governorate on the Ghouta plain.
On March 10, Katz slammed reports of mass killings and other atrocities attributed to the country’s new Sunni Islamist government.
De facto Syrian leader Ahmed Al-Shara’a “took off his jalabiya, put on a suit, and presented a moderate facade,” he said, but now “has removed the mask, revealing his true face: a jihadist terrorist from the Al-Qaeda school, committing atrocities against the Alawite civilian population.”
Al-Sharaa was a leading figure in Al-Qaeda before founding Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the overthrow of the Assad regime last year.