Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified Israel’s two-pronged strategic goal in Syria on Thursday—ensuring southern Syria is demilitarized and protecting the Druze of that region.
Netanyahu defined southern Syria as an area running from the Golan Heights to Jabal al-Druze, a region encompassing nearly all of the Sweida governorate, recently the site of massacres perpetrated by regime-linked Syrian forces against the Druze community.
The Syrian regime violated both red lines, Netanyahu said. “It sent troops south of Damascus into an area that was supposed to remain demilitarized, and it began massacring Druze. That was something we could not accept under any circumstances.
“Therefore, I instructed the IDF to act—and to act with force. The Air Force struck both the murderous militias and the armored vehicles. I also added a target—to strike the Ministry of Defense in Damascus,” he said.
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday attacked the entrance to the Syrian regime’s military headquarters in the Damascus area in response to atrocities against Druze civilians.
“As a result of this intensified action, a ceasefire was established, and the Syrian forces withdrew back to Damascus,” the prime minister said. “This will continue to be our policy—we will not allow military forces to move south of Damascus, and we will not allow harm to come to the Druze in Jabal al-Druze.”
Netanyahu said that the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, reached out to him, saying: “During the Holocaust, when they were slaughtering you, the Jews, you called for help—and no one came. Today, they are slaughtering us, the Druze, and we are calling for help from the State of Israel.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Wednesday evening that Israel’s military was “acting with determination” to prevent dangerous elements from establishing a presence near the border, to protect Israel’s citizens, and to prevent harm to Syria’s Druze.
Israeli Air Force fighters struck tanks, rocket launchers, combat equipment and pickups armed with heavy machine guns making their way to the Sweida area over the past 24 hours, the IDF announced on Wednesday.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that IDF strikes on Syrian regime forces near Sweida would intensify if threats to the Druze population persist.
“The Syrian regime must leave the Druze in Sweida alone and withdraw its forces,” he said. He emphasized that Israel would not abandon the Druze community and enforce its disarmament policy in the area.
