The Israel Defense Forces overnight on Thursday struck Syrian regime targets, responding to attacks against the Druze minority in the As-Suwayda region, the military said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that the strikes were a warning that Jerusalem “will not stand by and will not allow anyone to harm the Druze under the cover of our war against the Iranian terrorist regime and against the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon.”
“If necessary, we will strike with even greater force. The prime minister and I have made it clear and issued a warning: anyone who harms the Druze in Syria—brothers of our Druze brothers in Israel—will be harmed,” he said.
“We will continue to act with determination and strength across all fronts to protect our allies and ensure the security of Israel,” according to Katz.
The military said it struck a command center and weapons depots located inside military compounds belonging to the Syrian regime in the country’s south.
“The IDF will not tolerate harm towards the Druze population in Syria and will continue to operate to defend them,” it stated. “The IDF continues to monitor developments in southern Syria and will operate in accordance with directives from the political echelon.”
The latest Israeli military action in Syria came amid renewed violence in the predominantly Druze province in southern Syria, where clashes between government forces and local armed groups again have intensified in recent days, reportedly after a group of Druze militiamen attempted to enter regime-held territories.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that while Jerusalem remains ready to negotiate a new security agreement with the Syrian regime, it will “stand by its principles” to prevent a repeat of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
Israel’s policies are aimed at “preventing the entrenchment of terrorists and hostile activities against us, protecting Druze allies and ensuring that the State of Israel is safe from ground or other attacks,” he said on Dec. 2, 2025.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Al Qaeda terrorist who also goes by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has demanded a full return to the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War and an Israeli withdrawal from his territory.
