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Latest DevelopmentsSDF Clashes With Troops: The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) claimed on August 4 to have repelled an “attack” by “factions affiliated with the Syrian Transitional Government” on four of its positions in the village of al-Imam. The incident occurred days after the Syrian Defense Ministry accused the SDF of launching a rocket barrage against an army outpost on August 2, which the SDF claimed was retaliation for an unprovoked government artillery attack on civilian-populated areas. Separately, the SDF announced on August 3 that five of its fighters had been killed during an Islamic State attack on a checkpoint...

Violence is accelerating under Syria’s new Islamist government, as is the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities. This tragedy was entirely predictable. As far back as Barack Obama’s first term, critics warned that Washington’s flirtation with and assistance to Sunni Arab radicals would turn out badly. Nevertheless, Joe Biden’s administration persisted in that approach in an effort to overthrow the secular government of Bashar al-Assad. From the standpoint of US policymakers, Assad had committed two unpardonable sins. He transformed his country into Iran’s closest regional ally, and he forged closer ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Indeed, Russian air power played...

First they came for the Alawites, then they came for the Christians. Now they are coming for the Druze.Ever since regime change in Syria last December, the country had not exactly offered safety to its minorities, despite President Ahmed al-Sheraa's (al-Julani) fine words that he is the head of all Syrians, not just Sunnis. Druze have been murdered in the town of Suweida, there has been massacre, mutilation and humiliation. In fact there are suspicions that Al-Julani’s own forces slaughtered the entire staff at Suweida’s hospital along with their patients and carried out extrajudicial executions. The international community has been...

World-renowned urban warfare expert John Spencer has delivered a searing indictment of international inaction over the systematic massacre of Syria’s Druze minority, arguing that while “human rights organizations say little” and “Western capitals issue muted statements or none at all,” Israel alone has responded with decisive action to protect a vulnerable community facing what Spencer describes as “ethnic and religious cleansing in broad daylight.” Spencer, who serves as executive director of the Urban Warfare Institute and chair of urban warfare studies at West Point’s Modern War Institute, posted his analysis to X on Sunday in a viral social media post...

Bedouin fighters positioned outside the southern Syrian city of Suweida have told the BBC they will observe a ceasefire with the Druze community there, but have not ruled out resuming hostilities. The Bedouin fighters have retreated from the city to surrounding villages in the province after a week of deadly sectarian clashes between Druze fighters, Bedouins and government forces, with Israel carrying out air strikes in support of the Druze. On Sunday a UK-based monitoring group said there was a "cautious calm" in the region - but later said tribal fighters had attacked villages. From the town of al-Mazara'a -...

https://t.me/beholdisraelchannel/60104 A pro-government jihadist terrorist cold-bloodedly killed a Druze citizen in As Suweyda just because he was Druze. The conversation between them: "Are you Druze?" "Yes, just going out to buy bread." He shot him, then laughed and said, "Who told you to go out to buy bread?" His fellow fighter laughed: "You could at least have let him finish his sentence!" He replied: "No - slaughter, slaughter." ((. Graphic video at link - viewer discretion advised. ))

The Syrian government on Monday started evacuating Bedouin families trapped inside the city of Sweida, where Druze militiamen and Bedouin fighters have clashed for over a week. The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria’s already fragile postwar transition. The clashes also led to a series of targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze community, followed by revenge attacks against the Bedouins. The U.N. International Organization for Migration said some 128,571 people were displaced in the hostilities that started with a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks a...

The Druze are a small minority spread between Lebanon, northern Israel, and northern Jordan, with their concentration in southern Syria. Persecuted over the centuries, they are known as fierce fighters that placed their communities on the more mountainous terrain of the Levant for defensive reasons. Another defining feature of the Druze is the principle of loyalty to land and regime. Indeed, so close is the bond between Israel and its small Druze population of approximately 150,000 that most Druze youth serve in the IDF, with many becoming high-ranking officers.

For many Jews, the images of Druze men having their mustaches forcibly shaved conjure up memories of the Holocaust. Israel’s decision to take decisive action in Syria in an effort to deter attacks on the Druze community has shown that it is possible for countries to work to preempt massacres or genocide. In the wake of the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has been vocal about protecting the Druze in Syria. The IDF has acted several times when clashes in Syria between armed groups and Druze fighters led to the killings of Druze.

The White House is alarmed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decisions in Syria, multiple officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration were quoted Sunday as saying, branding the premier a “madman” and “a child who just won’t behave.” “Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time,” a White House official was cited as saying by the Axios news outlet, using the premier’s nickname. “This could undermine what Trump is trying to do.” Israel began carrying out strikes on Syrian troops rolling into Sweida on Tuesday after local government forces were accused of killing scores of people in...

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has received a report on sectarian violence that took place in Syria’s Alawite heartland earlier this year and pledged measures to prevent its recurrence, the presidency says, without disclosing the findings. Sharaa received the full report on the bloodshed from the fact-finding committee on July 13, the statement from the presidency says — the same day sectarian violence erupted in the heavily Druze province of Sweida. In early March, Syria’s Mediterranean coast, home to the Alawite religious minority to which ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad belongs, saw several days of intercommunal violence. The new Islamist authorities accused...

Sectarian clashes have continued in southern Syria despite an "immediate ceasefire" announced by the country's president. Reports say that Druze fighters on Saturday pushed out Bedouin gunmen from the city of Suweida - but fighting continued in other parts of the province. This has not been verified by the BBC. Government forces deployed earlier this week by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa were blamed for joining in attacks on the Druze. More than 900 people are reported to have been killed in the past week. All sides are accused of atrocities. The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, demanded an end...

Heartbreaking, Father Tony Boutros, representative of the Greek Catholic Church in Sweida, Syria, makes an appeal to the international community to save Christians and Druze from an Islamist genocide. “We Christians and Druze are one. Look at the massacre they are committing against us. We need protection to continue living in the land we have peacefully lived together for hundreds of years.” ... Who is doing the Killings? What’s UN doing? ... not seeing Christian pastors/priests speaking up ... This is the history of Islam. Conquer. Destroy. Kill non Islamic citizens. Then destroy a country and send it back into...

Did we hit Iran hard enough before we stopped? This is always the question, anytime you engage in diplomacy, warfare, or a combination of the two. When it becomes necessary to do something, the question is “How much?” Israel has led the effort against Iran, as Iran has been the chief aggressor against Israel. For 46 years now, the mullahs who rule that poor country have not only threatened Israel (and the USA too) on a constant basis, they have also funded, trained, and directed numerous terrorist organizations in the region, chief among which are Hamas of Gaza, Hezbollah of...

Fierce fighting broke out once again Friday in Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida region as armed Bedouin tribal factions, backed by Syria’s Islamist-led interim government, clashed with local Druze fighters at the city’s entrance, AFP reported. The confrontation follows the Syrian army’s Thursday withdrawal from Sweida after Israeli airstrikes and intense diplomatic pressure. Following the latest outburst, Syria’s government announced on Friday evening that it will redeploy forces to the area. The conflict has already claimed at least 638 lives since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The United Nations has demanded an end to the "bloodshed" and...

Syrian government forces had largely pulled out of the southern province of Sweida on Thursday after days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze minority that threatened to unravel the country’s post-war transition. The conflict had drawn airstrikes against Syrian forces by neighboring Israel in defense of the Druze before a truce — mediated by the U.S., Turkey and Arab countries and announced Wednesday — halted most of the fighting. However, Syrian state media said Thursday that Druze militiamen had launched revenge attacks on Sunni Bedouin communities, leading to a wave of their displacement. There were some reports of...

Following the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has established a new “red line” in Syria, launching major airstrikes on Damascus on July 16 to warn the new government against attacking the Druze minority in the south. The strikes, which targeted military headquarters, came after clashes erupted between Druze and other armed groups near Suwayda.

Syria has been wracked by a new wave of deadly sectarian violence that has placed the spotlight on the Druze minority at the center of rising tensions with Israel. Dozens of people were killed this week after clashes between government loyalists and Druze militias in the southern city of Suwayda, prompting Syrian forces to intervene. That, in turn, triggered renewed Israeli airstrikes, as Israel – citing a commitment to protect the Druze – expands its footprint in southern Syria. .. Syria’s military entered Suwayda, a stronghold for the Druze community in the country’s south, on Tuesday after clashes broke out...

"Israel announced on Wednesday that its forces struck near the entrance of the Syrian Defense Ministry’s headquarters in Damascus."The IDF continues to monitor developments and the regime's actions against Druze civilians in southern Syria. In accordance with directives from the political echelon, the IDF is striking in the area and remains prepared for various scenarios," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on X."

Israel carried out strikes against Syrian government forces in southwestern Syria for a second day on Tuesday, vowing to keep the area demilitarized and to protect the Druze minority as deadly clashes continued in the region at the Israeli frontier. A Reuters reporter said they heard drones and at least four strikes over the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, and saw a damaged tank being towed away. Bursts of gunfire were heard and three bodies were seen on the ground. Dozens of people have been killed in fighting in the region since Sunday. The surge in violence underlines the challenges...