Israel claims it has attacked Syria to protect its Druze minority, but analysts say its primary goal is to “divide and weaken” the country while expanding its hegemony in the Middle East.
Archiv: Drusen / Druze
Syrian Bedouins ‚massacred‘ by Druze anti-government militias, says state media
Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, a Druze spiritual leader who has been critical of the new Syrian government, has been accused of leading the main armed anti-government groups in Sweida.
Syrian army withdraws from Sweida after ceasefire
Following clashes with local Bedouin tribes that resulted in over 100 deaths, Syrian government soldiers entered Sweida on Tuesday with the claimed goal of enforcing a truce that was agreed upon with leaders of the Druze community. Witnesses, however, claimed that during a violent rampage across the city, government forces allied with the Bedouin to target Druze combatants and civilians. Earlier this evening, it was reported that the death toll had topped 300.
Turkey says ceasefire in Syria may take place within hours
16 July 2025 20:05 BST
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday that a ceasefire could take hold in Syria within the next three to four hours, as Israeli military strikes continue to target Syrian government forces in Sweida and Damascus.
“By working together with the Americans, I hope that
US calls upon Syria to pull out troops in southern border
16 July 2025 19:23 BST
The statements were made after fighting between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern city of Sweida hours following a ceasefire agreement.
Israel bombs Damascus, stoking conflict with Syria’s new government
Israel on Wednesday launched what it said were “dozens” of strikes across Syria, including in the capital, escalating a conflict with a fledgling government that was already grappling with domestic unrest in which scores of people have been killed.
Israel tied Wednesday’s strikes and others this week to that internal conflict, saying it was attacking forces of the new Islamist government to protect the Druze minority.
Syria announces ceasefire after latest outbreak of deadly sectarian violence
Syria’s Interior Ministry said Monday that more than 30 people had been killed, but has not updated the figures since. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said Tuesday that 166 people had been killed since Sunday, including five women and two children.
Israel launches new strikes on Syria amid Druze tensions
The strikes came after Druze clerics and armed factions reaffirmed their loyalty to Damascus. They urged the new authorities to appoint local officials to government posts in Sweida province, heartland of the Druze religious group.
Their statement followed fighting between Druze fighters and Syrian forces, including government-affiliated groups that killed more than 100 people in Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus and in Sweida, the Observatory said.
Second attack in two days: Israel hits target near Syrian presidential palace in Damascus
The conflict ignited around midnight Monday following the circulation of an audio recording on social media containing criticism of Islam‘s Prophet Muhammad, attributed to a Druze cleric. However, cleric Marwan Kiwan denied responsibility for the controversial audio in a social media video.
Over 100 Killed as Sectarian Fighting Surrounding Syrian Druze Community Rages
(May 1, 2025)
The anti-Druze sentiment started overnight Monday into Tuesday. An audio recording was released online insulting the Prophet Muhammad and quickly went viral. It was attributed to an unnamed Druze leader in Suwayda, though that has not been confirmed, and it has been speculated it was specifically released to inflame sectarian violence.
If that was the purpose, mission accomplished, because attacks on the Druze in Jaramana were happening the very next day.
Talk of Golan annexation leaves out those expelled from it
President Trump’s recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights has been widely celebrated by Israelis. But do those same Israelis know of the hundreds of thousands of people expelled from the territory during the 1967 war?
Gerede über die Annexion des Golan berücksichtigt nicht die Vertriebenen
Die überwiegende Mehrheit der Israelis weiss immer noch nicht, dass über 130.000 Einwohner der Golanhöhen während des Krieges von 1967 aus ihren Dörfern, Städten und Gemeinden vertrieben wurden. Tatsächlich ist das Gebiet in den letzten Jahrzehnten für die meisten Israelis zu einem „Konsens“-Thema geworden, so dass viele keinen Grund sehen, es zurückzugeben. Während also Präsident Trump letzte Woche die Welt vor den Kopf stieß, indem er die Annexion des Golan durch Israel anerkannte, feierte in Israel fast jeder diesen Schritt.
Golan Druze rally in support of Assad (video)
Carrying both Syrian flags and the traditional five-coloured Druze flag, the small crowd of Arab Druze gathered near the ceasefire line, where they used megaphones to shout across to Syrian soldiers on the other side of the security fence.
Defying Israeli occupation, Golan Druze pledge loyalty to Syria’s Assad
The crowd marked the Saturday event by wearing their traditional black garbs and white hats while waving Syrian flags and pictures of Assad. The gathering Druze shouted support for the president into megaphones and were answered by Syrian soldiers who were standing behind a security fence on the opposite side of the border.
מפגינים מתפרצים לנאומו של דיכטר
(2.8.2018)
Der Adrenalinpegel in Israel steigt bedrohlich hoch
Aber es war doch Khnifess, der vor zwei Wochen auf die Bühne stürmte. Er rief «Rassist, Rassist!» und ging auf den ehemaligen Geheimdienstchef Avi Dichter los. Die Faustschläge von Khnifess prasselten auf insgesamt acht Bodyguards nieder, die sich ihm in den Weg stellten. Wieder und wieder griff er an. Die Aufnahmen dieser Szenen, wie Khnifess den am Podium stehenden Abgeordneten der rechtskonservativen Regierungspartei Likud attackierte, sorgten in Israel für grosses Aufsehen.
‚We Need Equality‘: Tens of Thousands Attend Druze Rally Against Nation-state Law
Right-wing activists spread fake correspondence on deal between Druze leaders and Labor party
Druze engage in mass rally in Tel Aviv against ‚Jewish state law‘
The protesters accuse the Tel Aviv regime of racism and discrimination against other ethnicities.
Netanyahu Cuts Short Meeting With Druze Leaders on Nation-state Law
‚I stand behind those statements,‘ says former Druze military officer on recent Facebook post saying nation-state law could lead to apartheid, ‚but Netanyahu is the one who suddenly brought them up in the meeting to torpedo it‘
Wer zum Teufel sind wir?
Was ist an dem neuen Gesetz, das auf den ersten Blick wie eine Abschrift der Erklärung wirkt, nun also das Neue? Es enthält zwei wichtige Auslassungen: in der Erklärung war von einem „jüdischen und demokratischen“ Staat die Rede und allen Bürgern des Staates wurde ohne Unterschied von Religion, Volkszugehörigkeit und Geschlecht vollkommene Gleichberechtigung zugesagt.
Beides ist verschwunden. Keine Demokratie. Keine Gleichberechtigung. Ein Staat der Juden für die Juden von den Juden.
DIE ERSTEN, die aufschrien, waren die Drusen.
Israel: Drusen verlassen Armee wegen Nationalitätsgesetz
Das umstrittene Nationalitätsgesetz in Israel sorgt nun auch in der Armee für Ärger: Der drusisch-israelische Kommandant Amir Jmall legte am Montag sein Amt nieder und rief Mitglieder der drusischen Gemeinschaft dazu auf, es ihm gleichzutun. Von Regierungsstellen forderte er, die Wehrpflicht für Drusen abzuschaffen. Wenn Drusen nur Bürger zweiter Klasse seien, müssten sie sich dem Staat auch nicht verpflichtet fühlen, sagte Jmall.
Israeli Druze Commander Quits Army Over Nation-state Law in Open Letter to Netanyahu
„Continue serving the country? I do not want to continue and I am sure that hundreds more people will stop serving and will be discharged from the army following your decision, Netanyahu, that of you and your government,” he continued.
A Syria War?
(13.3.2007) Syria is surrounded by unfriendly forces. Turkey, a close ally to Israel in the north, Jordan in the south, the U.S.-occupied Iraq east and Lebanon west of it.We know from Seymour Hersh (and in fact, „we“ does mean „6 Billion Jurors in the Court of Puplic Opinion“), that the Bush Administration and the royal dynasty of Saudi Arabia, in coordination with the Israeli Government, are funding Sunni islamists and terrorist militias in the north of Lebanon and all over the middle east, allegedly to prevent the so-called „Shiite crescent“.
We know, that the Lebanese Leader of the Druze, Walid Jumblatt, met with Dick Cheney in Washington last fall and advised him, if the United States does try to move against Syria, members of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood would be „the ones to talk to“.
We also know by the New Yorker journalist, that „there is evidence that the Administration`s redirection strategy has already benefitted the Brotherhood,“ that there is Saudi money and American involvement.