Israel delivers humanitarian aid to southern Syria Druze

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday it had delivered some 2 million shekels ($450,000) worth of humanitarian aid to the embattled Druze population of Sweida in southern Syria.

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, the ministry added.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz met over the weekend with Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze community in the Jewish state, at the latter’s home in Julis in the Western Galilee.

In coordination with Druze Israel Defense Forces reservists who operate an information center tracking developments in Sweida, Katz said Israel is stepping up humanitarian and medical aid efforts for Druze communities in crisis.

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.

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 Israel Defense Forces strikes.

Over 1,000 people were reportedly killed and more than 100,000 were displaced, with the area remaining tense despite a tentative ceasefire.