By John Abdalla —
First the Christians of Syria got massacred by the Islamist government, now the Druze.
Israel bombed the Syrian military headquarters in Damascus, and near the presidential palace, to defend the Druze, allies to Israel.
“The IDF, the Air Force and other forces are working to save our Druze brothers and eliminate the regime’s gangs,” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said, per translation on newscast.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Druze, citizens of Israel, poured across the northern border into Syria to help their kinsman fight the Islamists in power in Syria, that Westerners hoped — including Donald Trump — would turn from their terrorist ways and integrate into peaceful world society.
The U.S. removed a terrorist designation and a $10M bounty for the interim president of Syria Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa (formerly known as Al-Julani when he was with ISIS) when he trimmed his beard, donned a suit and made pledges of peace.
“Israel is sending a very clear message to Julani, and I even heard some parliamentary members suggest Israel should take him out, that enough is enough, stop pretending that he is a partner for peace,” says Israeli Druze activist Mansor Ashkar. “He is a jihadist.”
On June 22, associated Islamist forces bombed and killed 25 at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elias in the Damascus suburb of Dweila. Another 69 were injured, with the attack specifically targeting the Christian community.
Attacks against the Druze have similarly ratcheted up in recent days. On April 30, a Druze convoy had been traveling from Suwayda Governorate to support fellow Druze in Sahnaya was ambushed by forces that were affiliated with the Ministries of Interior and Defense, leading to 43 deaths. Some of the bodies being burnt and others mutilated while the perpetrators reportedly chanted anti-Druze slogans. At least eight government-affiliated fighters were also killed.
Government-aligned forces reportedly launched attacks against the villages of Rasas and al-Soura al-Kabira in the Suwayda Governorate. These attacks included mortar shell bombardments targeting positions near civilian residences. Additionally, al-Soura al-Kabira came under heavy machine gunfire from government loyalist positions surrounding the village.
On May 1, the number of reported field executions were carried out in Ashrafieh Sahnaya increased to nine. Eight of the executions were carried out inside a poultry farm while another targeted a man in his house. Former Mayor of Sahnaya Hussam Warwar was executed in the street along with his son, a couple of hours after he had appeared in a video thanking security forces for deploying to the town.
Government security forces detained a Iraqi Kurdish Channel 8 journalist and camerawoman documenting the ongoing violence in Sahnaya, releasing them after confiscating their equipment and phones. The SOHR characterized the event as a violation against freedom of the press and the necessary protection of journalists.
As of July 17, reports indicate that a hospital in Suwayda, a Druze stronghold in southern Syria, was attacked amid ongoing sectarian violence. The Syrian Health Ministry reported that dozens of bodies, including fighters and civilians, were found in the hospital following the clashes.
The violence, which began with abductions between Druze and Bedouin groups, escalated when Syrian forces entered Suwayda to restore order but instead contributed to the chaos, looting homes, firing rockets at civilian residences, and seizing the local hospital, cutting its power.
The local hospital in Suwayda was attacked, with reports of dozens of bodies, including fighters and civilians, found inside. The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported 169 people killed in the week’s violence, while security sources put the toll at 300, though these figures could not be independently verified.
Military/paramilitary forces humiliated the Druze by cutting off their mustaches. While the Sunnis like beards, they don’t care for the mustaches, which is a cultural identification for the Druze.
Druze religion/ethnicity is a syncretism of Shia Islam, Christianity, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. There are thought to be 1 million Druze living mostly in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan. In Syria, they tend to live mostly in the South, along the border with Israel, helping a build a buffer zone for Israel against the hostile Islamists northwards.
The mainstream media has largely ignored the suppression of the Druze, since it doesn’t fit their narrative of Israel = bad/ Arabs = good.
“The media for some reason seems to be always trying to defend the bad guys and make the good guys look bad,” says Ashkar. “And when there’s something that will make the bad guys look bad, they’re silent.
And it’s consistent. It’s like, you know, you you should give them the credit. They’re very very consistent in that.”
Netanyahu urged Israeli Druze to remain in Israel where they can freely practice their religion and where they are safe, but hundreds ignored his warnings and instead surged northward across the border to join the fight in defense of their kinsmen.
As Druze men are leaving the house to fight the Islamists, they give a shotgun or a knife to their younger sons and urge them to protect the women of the household, Ashkar says.
“Boy, you just became a man today,” the Dad tells the kid, according to Ashkar. “I promise I’m going to come back, but if I don’t, you don’t let your mother and sister fall to the hands of these monsters.”
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