Israel has announced its readiness to defend Syria's Druze community amid escalating violence in the country, which has led to the mass killing of civilians and raised tensions between the Syrian government and minority groups.
The violence, which erupted last week, involved fighters aligned with Syria's new government and forces loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad. Israel’s government spokesperson, David Mencer, described the violence as a “massacre of civilians” and confirmed that Israel is prepared, if necessary, to defend the Druze, although he did not elaborate on how.
The Druze are Arabs who follow a religion that is an offshoot of Islam, and their communities can be found in Israel, Syria, and Lebanon.
On Monday, Syria’s Islamist-led government stated that it had completed a military operation targeting a nascent insurgency. The fighting primarily took place in coastal provinces, home to most of Syria’s Alawite minority, to which Assad belongs. The Alawites, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, have held political control over the Sunni Muslim majority for decades.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported that 973 civilians were killed by government forces and allied fighters in reprisal attacks. Additionally, over 250 Alawite fighters and more than 230 members of the government security forces lost their lives in the violence. These figures have not been independently verified by Reuters.
Israel is home to a small Druze community, and approximately 24,000 Druze live in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a territory Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in 1981, a move that is not widely recognized internationally.
Many Syrian Druze have relatives in the Golan Heights, and in response to the violence, Israel announced on Sunday that it would allow Syrian Druze to work in the region.
Earlier, on March 1, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz directed the military to be prepared to defend a Druze town located in the suburbs of Damascus, should it come under attack from Syrian government forces.
Israel's defence minister said on Wednesday Israeli troops will not withdraw from southern Lebanon, highlighting a hurdle to Iran-U.S. peace talks, as...
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he will “most likely” hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Donald Trump during next month’s...
Russia has called for clarification on whether U.S. President Donald Trump has changed his position on the war in Ukraine following remarks made at th...
The European Union and Taliban officials held talks in Brussels on Tuesday on consular services and the situation of Afghans whose asylum applications...
Iran is preparing for a week-long farewell to former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, who was killed in February during Israeli-U.S. air r...
Tehran has agreed to let the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommence inspections of its nuclear programme, U.S. Vice President JD Vance has said. The U.S. and Iran have settled on a 60-day roadmap aimed at reaching a final deal, according to mediators Qatar and Pakistan.
Israel's defence minister said on Wednesday Israeli troops will not withdraw from southern Lebanon, highlighting a hurdle to Iran-U.S. peace talks, as the top U.S. diplomat tours the Middle East to win over allies sceptical about a proposed deal.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he will “most likely” hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Donald Trump during next month’s NATO summit in Ankara, where the American leader is expected to attend.
Russia has called for clarification on whether U.S. President Donald Trump has changed his position on the war in Ukraine following remarks made at the recent G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains.
Israel's defence minister said on Wednesday Israeli troops will not withdraw from southern Lebanon, highlighting a hurdle to Iran-U.S. peace talks, as the top U.S. diplomat tours the Middle East to win over allies sceptical about a proposed deal.
A Ukrainian strike has damaged a school building in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to local authorities cited by the TASS news agency. No injuries were reported in the incident.
U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran had agreed to nuclear inspections into "infinity, despite Tehran's denials, and that unfrozen Iranian assets would be used to buy humanitarian supplies from the United States.
Authorities in France are reporting that about 20 people have died over the weekend while swimming in unsupervised areas of rivers, lakes and coastal waters as they tried to escape the heatwave.
Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo have surpassed 1,000, with health officials warning that the outbreak is spreading rapidly through displacement camps and across borders.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he will “most likely” hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Donald Trump during next month’s NATO summit in Ankara, where the American leader is expected to attend.
Russia has called for clarification on whether U.S. President Donald Trump has changed his position on the war in Ukraine following remarks made at the recent G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains.
The European Union and Taliban officials held talks in Brussels on Tuesday on consular services and the situation of Afghans whose asylum applications have been rejected in Europe.
China’s anti-corruption authorities have launched an investigation into Bian Zhigang, a senior defence and space official, over suspected serious violations of discipline and law, officials said on Wednesday.
Alibaba, one of the world's largest technology and e-commerce companies, has sued the U.S. Pentagon after being added to a blacklist of firms it claims support China's military, escalating a dispute with potentially significant consequences for the company.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment