IDF medics treat 500 Druze in southern Syria

The Israel Defense Forces treated more than 500 Syrian civilians this month at a newly established medical facility in southern Syria, the military revealed on Wednesday.

The mobile triage center, set up in early May near the village of Hader, is primarily aimed at providing medical care and humanitarian support to the local Druze population.

Some of the civilians who sought care at the IDF medical facility were evacuated to hospitals inside Israel for further treatment, the military said.

Israel maintains a presence in southern Syria “with the goal of maintaining the security of the residents of the Golan Heights and creating a forward security zone, alongside providing assistance to the local population,” the statement added.

The medical facility is part of a broader humanitarian and security initiative aimed at supporting Syria’s embattled Druze community.

On May 1, the IDF carried out an airstrike near the presidential palace in Damascus, after Jerusalem warned the Syrian government to put an end to sectarian attacks on members of the Druze community.

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

On March 10, Katz slammed reports of alleged mass killings and other atrocities attributed to the country’s new Sunni Islamist government.

De facto Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa “took off his jalabiya, put on a suit, and presented a moderate facade,” Katz said, but now “has removed the mask, revealing his true face: a jihadist terrorist from the Al-Qaeda school.”

Al-Sharaa was a leading figure in Al-Qaeda before founding Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the overthrow last year of the Assad regime.