The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) has provided humanitarian aid to Christian and Druze communities in Syria, close to the Israeli border, the organization said on Sunday.
The assistance, including medical supplies and thousands of food packages, was provided in coordination with the Israel Defense Forces. The aid comprises antibiotics, sterilization equipment, surgical gear, masks for morgue workers and first aid kits for emergency responders.
On July 13, clashes erupted in Syria between local Druze, Sunni Bedouin tribes and regime forces. Reports of mass killings, public executions and abuses against Druze civilians prompted IDF intervention.
Over 1,000 people were reportedly killed and more than 100,000 displaced, with the area remaining tense despite a tentative ceasefire.
The Druze are an Arabic-speaking ethnoreligious community, distinct from Islam, numbering about 150,000 in Israel—mostly in the Galilee, Carmel and Golan—where they are recognized as a unique religious group and play a prominent role in military and public service.
Significant Druze populations also live in Syria and Lebanon, with families often split across borders.
The IFCJ announced it was also supporting the establishment of two medical relief clinics in the Sweida region of southern Syria.
“When the brothers of our brothers need help in Syria, we must help when we can,” said IFCJ president Yael Eckstein. “We can’t stop terrorists from targeting and killing people and we can’t stop the rockets from falling, but what we can do is provide comfort and help for those who need us. We can’t help all the persecuted Christians in the Middle East, but when it’s right on Israel’s Syrian border, we can’t turn our backs on them,” she added.
“The global Christian community and our Druze brothers and sisters in Israel have stood side by side with Israel and the Jewish people, particularly since October 7th. And now that we can, we will stand with the Christian and Druze community in Syria as they are being targeted,” she said.
The two clinics—set up quickly within existing village structures—are located in the most heavily affected areas. They offer treatment rooms, a trauma unit, obstetrics and gynecology services including maternal deliveries and fetal imaging, operating theaters, basic laboratory facilities and pharmacies.
Safwan Marich, director of the Security and Emergency Response Division for the IFCJ, said: “As a member of the Druze community, I take great pride in being able to apply my position within the Fellowship towards assisting my fellow Druze brothers and sisters in Syria who have been the victims of horrific violence and massacres.”
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday it had delivered some 2 million shekels ($450,000) worth of humanitarian aid to the embattled Druze population of Sweida.
The aid includes food as well as medical supplies, “and is intended for areas directly impacted by the violent attacks” of regime-sponsored jihadist militias, according to the ministry.
Thursday’s aid marked the second shipment delivered to the Syrian minority by Jerusalem, following another during previous clashes in March.
