Israeli military told to prepare to defend Druze community in Damascus

(Patria) - The Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that the army has been instructed to prepare to defend Druze settlements in the suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus, claiming that the minority it promised to protect has been "attacked" by Syrian forces, AP reported.

The statement, citing an order from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, followed an Israeli warning last weekend that forces of the new Syrian government and a rebel group that led the overthrow of former President Bashar Assad last year should not enter the area south of Damascus.

Saturday's statement indicates that Israeli forces could penetrate further into Syria as its new authorities try to consolidate control after more than a decade of civil war. Israeli forces recently established positions in the buffer zone and on the strategically important Mount Hermon nearby. There have been no major clashes between Israeli troops and the new Syrian forces.

"We will not allow the radical Islamic regime in Syria to harm the Druze. If the regime harms the Druze, we will be harmed," the statement said.

The Druze are a religious minority living in southern Syria and on Israel's Golan Heights, where they navigate their historical Syrian identity while living under Israeli rule.

The Israeli statement followed an outbreak of unrest on Friday in the Druze settlement of Jaramana, when a security forces member entered and began firing into the air, leading to an exchange of fire with local armed men in which he was killed.

On Saturday, armed men came from the Damascus suburb of Mleiha to Jaramana, where they clashed with armed Druze. As a result, one Druze fighter was killed and nine people were injured, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in the United Kingdom.

Last week's Israeli warning to Syrian forces and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a major former rebel group, made it clear that Israeli forces would remain in parts of southern Syria indefinitely.
"We demand the complete demilitarization of southern Syria in the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa, and Sweida from the forces of the new regime," an earlier statement said. "Likewise, we will not tolerate any threat to the Druze community in southern Syria."

After Assad's fall in December, Israel occupied a buffer zone in Syrian territory patrolled by United Nations forces. The zone was established under a 1974 ceasefire agreement. The new Syrian authorities and UN officials have called on Israel to withdraw.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu's government is under pressure to protect Israelis living near border areas in the north while trying to return those residents to their homes.