Editor’s note: Amit Segal is Chief Political Correspondent for N12News. You can find his column “It’s Noon in Israel” at https://www.amitsegal.net/ and his X posting: https://x.com/amitsegal. There are reports today – Thursday – of a stand-down by the Syrian army and talks again about the future. Much remains in limbo.
The likelihood of Israel normalizing relations with Syria has taken a hit following the murder of Syrian Druze by Ahmed al-Shara’s forces—on top of the religious humiliation you can see in the above images.As of writing, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the fighting has left over 200 people dead, 92 of whom are Druze—and 21 of whom were Druze civilians “killed in summary executions by government forces.”
Of course, striking any kind of deal with a Syria ruled by al-Shara—not quite a Harvard-trained diplomat—was always bound to provoke discomfort amongst some Israelis. But with his forces now butchering Druze civilians, it raises some serious concerns.
First, and perhaps most jarring, is this: How can the Jewish state, in good conscience, normalize relations with a jihadist whose forces are gleefully murdering civilians?
But even for those who point out that the Middle East is not the Upper West Side, and that you don’t always have the luxury of choosing your friends here, the violence in Syria raises a more practical question: Can al-Shara be trusted?
After all, the deal on the table is a non-aggression pact that will likely demand an Israeli withdrawal from Syrian territory it recently captured. But for the Israeli public to go along with that, it needs to believe that Syria’s new regime won’t exploit the withdrawal to attack the Jewish state—a feeling that’s hardly been encouraged by recent events.
Of course, there’s another angle to this. Despite holding the title of President, Ahmed al-Shara is hardly running a united, properly governed country. And as some have suggested, the current violence may well be less a product of al-Shara ordering a massacre, and rather the result of a total lack of control in Syria—which enables militias to act as they wish, even if they ostensibly report to their new president.
And that introduces a whole new terrifying prospect to Israelis: That the man Jerusalem wants to sign a non-aggression pact with can’t even control his own soldiers.
Of course, Netanyahu’s government is far from naive. Following yesterday’s strikes on Syrian regime forces, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned al-Shara this morning, in no uncertain terms, that “the Syrian regime must leave the Druze in Sweida alone and withdraw its forces,” adding that “Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the disarmament policy we have decided upon. The IDF will continue to attack regime forces until their withdrawal from the area—and will soon raise the level of responses against the regime if the message is not understood.”
And Israel seems to be keeping its word. Just after midday today, the IDF said it struck the entrance gate to Syria’s military headquarters compound in the Damascus area.
But wait, there’s more to this story. Yesterday, dozens of young Israeli Druze men crossed the border into Syria, and according to one video published by the Walla news site, they appeared to do so as IDF soldiers stood by and watched.
Why did they cross the border? To fight al-Shara’s men and defend their Syrian cousins, it seems. Indeed, weapons were found on some of them. While IDF forces were sent to bring them back, some of the Druze are still in Syrian territory. Israel’s military, meanwhile, is set to investigate the incident.
And the saga is far from over. This morning, Israel’s Druze leadership issued an official statement: “We call on all members of the community to prepare by any means necessary to cross the border in order to assist our brothers being slaughtered in Syria.”
At this point, it’s worth briefly discussing the Druze—a crucial but often overlooked group in the region.
Around one million-strong, the Druze reside mainly in Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, and practice an offshoot of Islam. Many of them have relatives in neighbouring countries—hence the Druze protests calling on the IDF to intensify its attacks on al-Shara’s regime, the border crossing into Syria, and today’s announcement by Israeli Druze leadership.
Ok, and how integrated into the Jewish state are Israeli Druze? Contrary to much of Israel’s Arab population, many Israeli Druze proudly serve in the IDF—rising to senior positions. Indeed, 13 Druze IDF soldiers have been killed in the current war.
For just one example of the seniority Israeli Druze achieve in the military, take Mahmoud Kheir el-Din. Rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel, Mahmoud served as an officer and combat soldier in the Special Operations Division of the Intelligence Directorate, one of the IDF’s most prestigious and secretive units.
In November 2018, Mahmoud was killed in a botched undercover operation in Gaza, making him, at the time, the most senior IDF casualty since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Indeed, so crucial was his work that the military only released his name three-and-a-half years after his death.
Between such sacrifices the Druze have made for the Jewish state, to their deep concern for their relatives in Syria, and the apparent willingness among some of them to take the law into their own hands, one can perhaps begin to understand why Jerusalem has sworn to protect the Syrian Druze—and why, for now at least, normalization with al-Shara’s Syria isn’t looking too likely.
