Israel reaching out to Syrian Druze communities

An estimated 700,000-800,000 Druze live in Syria, mostly in southwestern areas near Israel and Jordan.

By Noah Michaeli, TPS

Israeli security officials are enlisting senior Israeli Druze figures to help build bridges with Syrian Druze communities.

The head of the Israeli army’s Intelligence Directorate, Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Bender, met with Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community on Sunday, according to Lt.- Col. Avichay Adraee, the Israel Defense Force’s Arabic spokesperson.

“The head of the Intelligence Service and His Eminence Sheikh Tarif discussed the developments in the scene in Syria and their effects on the Druze community,” Adraee tweeted.

The move came as Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to establish contact with the Syrian Druze and other communities on Sunday.

An estimated 700,000-800,000 Druze live in Syria, mostly in southwestern areas near Israel and Jordan. They make up around four percent of the Syrian population.

Israel’s Druze community of 152,000 trace their ancestry back to the Biblical figure Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses.

Israeli Druze serve in senior positions in public and military life, and the bond between Jewish and Druze soldiers is referred to as the “covenant of blood.”

The Druze speak Arabic but are not Muslim and are very secretive about their religious beliefs.

The Druze living in the Galilee and Mount Carmel areas sided with the Jews in 1948 during Israel’s War of Independence, opted to be part of Israeli society and established themselves in all areas of public life.

When Israel captured the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War of 1967, the Golan Druze refused Israeli offers of citizenship, believing Syria would recapture the plateau.

But attitudes have changed since the Syrian Civil War broke out in 2011.

Katz also ordered the army to prevent Iran and Hezbollah from renewing arms smuggling routes between Syria and Lebanon and to destroy strategic weapons that could fall into rebel hands.

Israel took control of the 235 sq km buffer zone –including the Syrian side of Mt. Hermon, a strategic peak in the Golan Heights — to prevent Syrian rebels from approaching the border as the regime of Bashar Assad collapsed on Sunday.

The move into the demilitarized zone was coordinated with peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, which has been monitoring an Israeli-Syrian ceasefire since 1974.

The Israeli Air Force struck military airfields, weapons depots and munitions factories across southern Syria and around Damascus to prevent them from falling into rebel hands.

Targets included the Mezzeh and Khalkalah military airports in the Damascus area, which were used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Hezbollah.

The strikes also reportedly destroyed facilities producing chemical weapons and precision missiles.