IDF delivers humanitarian aid to Syrian Druze, far from Israeli border

This was the first time Israel has transferred aid across the Syrian border by helicopter. 

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

On Friday night, an Israeli helicopter transferred humanitarian aid to the Syrian Druze community in the Sweida area of southern Syria, some 45 miles past the Israeli-Syrian border. 

The delivery of aid was accompanied by a warning from Israel to Syria’s new government not to harm the Druze community. 

Israel is home to 150,000 Druze, many of whom serve in Israel’s military.

This as the first time Israel has transferred aid across the Syrian border by helicopter. 

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews said that they delivered 1,500 food packages through the IDF to Christians and Druze in southern Syria and that they would deliver medical supplies soon. 

Israel has evacuated five more Druze who were severely wounded in Syria due to sectarian violence. 

The evacuated Druze joined 10 others who had also been taken to Ziv Hospital in Tzfat earlier. 

One Syrian Druze man was hospitalized at Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya after injuring his back while jumping from a building to escape his attackers. 

He said, “It’s a full circle for me to be in the hospital in Israel. My grandfather grew up here, and I have family in Rameh (an Arab town). ” 

IDF troops have been “deployed to southern Syria and are preventing hostile forces from entering the area and Druze villages.”

“The IDF is still monitoring the situation, with maximum readiness for defense and different scenarios,” the military added.

The Israeli Air Force struck several targets in Syria  Friday, including a military installation, anti-aircraft cannons, and surface-to-air missile infrastructure, the military said.

“The IDF will continue to operate as necessary to defend Israeli civilians,” the statement read.

Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted sites near Damascus, in the western governorate of Hama, and in the southern region of Daraa.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is affiliated with opposition sources, said the IDF carried out more than 20 strikes in what it called the “heaviest” Israeli offensive in the country in 2025.