File photo : Workers clean the National Hospital following sectarian clashes in the Druze-majority town of Sweida, Syria, on Friday, Jul.25, 2025. patients in beds were shot at by Syrian security forces. 1,653 Killed in the Sweida Massacre, Including 429 Executed by Defense and Interior Forces according The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (Photo: AP)
Israel’s military has said it struck Syrian army camps overnight in response to attacks against the Druze community in the south of the country.
“This was in response to yesterday’s events, in which Druze civilians were attacked in the Sweida area,” the Israeli military said in a post on Telegram on Friday.
“The [Israeli military] will not allow harm to come to Druze in Syria and will continue to act for their protection.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor reported on Thursday that fighting broke out between government forces and fighters from local tribes against opposing Druze factions in the western countryside of Suwayda.
The fighting began after mortar shells fell on areas under the control of Druze factions.
The shelling later hit residential neighbourhoods in the city of Sweida, sowing panic and fear among residents, the Syrian Observatory said.
Syria’s state-run SANA news agency did not acknowledge the fighting in Sweida or the Israeli attack.
Violence first erupted in Suwayda on July 13 between Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze groups.
Government forces were sent in to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, because the Syrian government forces sided with the bedouins against the Druze resulting in the massacre of 1653 people according to . The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Israel then carried out strikes on Syrian troops and also bombed the heart of the capital, Damascus.
Israel had already pushed deeper into Syrian territory following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, occupying the buffer zone and saying the 1974 deal with Syria had collapsed.
The latest flare-up between the neighbouring countries comes as war roils the Middle East after the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
In a speech delivered after the Eid al-Fitr prayers on Friday in Damascus, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said he is working to keep Syria out of any conflict.
“It is important to remember that Syria has always been an arena of conflict and strife during the past 15 years and before that, but today it is in harmony with all neighbouring countries regionally and internationally,” he said.
He added that Syria stood “in full solidarity with the Arab states”.
But the transitional government in Syria has generated significant concern among Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities. While al-Sharaa has publicly promised protection and inclusion for minorities, his administration has faced criticism over sectarian violence, the treatment of minorities by extremist fighters in his ranks, and the lack of minority representation in high-ranking government posts
AFP/ Al Jazeera
