Israel vows to defend Syria's Druze after clashes on edge of Damascus

Three people killed in Jaramana at weekend after HTS forces tried to enter suburb

Israeli soldiers stand on a personnel carrier in the buffer zone which separates Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights. AFP

Israel has vowed to defend Syria's Druze community after deadly clashes over the weekend in Damascus involving members of the sect and the country's Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) rulers. They added to tension between minorities and the new authorities, and raised concerns about the possibility of more outside intervention in the country.

At least three people have been killed since Saturday after forces loyal to HTS made incursions into the neighbourhood of Jaramana, near the road to Damascus airport, prompting the Druze to bring in reinforcements from the sect's heartland in the southern governorate of Suweida, residents said.

Machinegun fire and the sound of rocket-propelled grenades could be heard in the neighbourhood throughout Saturday as HTS forces surrounded the district, but could not seal it completely. A member of the inner circle of Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijri, the sect's spiritual leader in Syria, said the tension in Jaramana had abated on Sunday.

A sign in Suweida depicts the Syrian Druze leader Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijri. Reuters

"The situation has been contained," he said. He attributed the change to a visit by a Druze militia leader loyal to Sheikh Hikmat, who arrived in Jaramana from Suweida and asked the community's armed members to reduce their presence in the streets. The Druze community, estimated to be around one million, are mainly present in Syria, Israel, Lebanon and Jordan.

An Israeli Defence Ministry statement said that the Druze of Jaramana have come under attack. Large numbers of Druze live in the mixed neighbourhood of several hundreds of thousands of people.

“We will not allow the terrorist regime of radical Islam in Syria to harm the Druze. If the regime harms the Druze, it will be harmed by us,” the Israeli statement said.

Veteran Lebanese Druze leader Walid Joumblatt said that “the free Syrians must be cautious of the plots of Israel”, accusing it of creating sectarian division and chaos in the country. “In Syria there is a plot for sabotage," he said, adding that he will visit Syria soon to meet its new leader, Ahmad Al Shara.

Mr Al Shara is aiming to consolidate control in outlying areas of the country. But he is facing resistance from leaders of the Druze and other religious and ethnic groups. He leads HTS, a group formerly linked with Al Qaeda, which led the toppling of the former dictator Bashar Al Assad on December 8.

Israel has also said it will not allow HTS to entrench itself in the south of Syria, which comprises Suweida and areas in the nearby governorates of Deraa and Quneitra. The two regions are adjacent to Israeli positions in the Golan Heights, where Israel has expanded a buffer zone in the last two months. Last week, Israel struck sites south of Damascus that formerly belonged to the Assad regime after HTS personnel moved in.

Mr Al Shara has repeatedly signalled that no harm will come to members of the country’s many minorities unless they were complicit in the crimes of the former regime, but tension has been rising between minorities and the new authorities.

A statement by Druze clergy in Jaramana said that the Druze there will always consider their "depth" to be Damascus, without directly addressing the Israeli pledge of support for the community.

Druze hold a placard reading 'Suweida will not be your poisoned dagger in Syria's back' during a demonstration against Israeli incursions into Syria. AP

The statement said that "rogue" elements in Jaramana should face the force of the law, without naming them. Many see Sheikh Hikmat as a protector of the Druze, by virtue of his religious stature and outside connections.

He steered the community away from joining in the suppression of the peaceful 2011 revolt against then-president Bashar Al Assad as most young Druze dodged conscription. In August 2022, he supported a civil disobedience movement in Suweida that demanded the former leader's removal, which lasted until he was ousted in December.

The anti-Assad movement in Suweida lasted so long because any attempt to violently suppress it was expected to be met with a response by Israel. Russia, whose influence has drastically waned in Syria, was also seen as not having favoured the use of mass violence against the Druze.

The country remains fragmented, with Russia maintaining a coastal base near the Alawite Mountains, the core support region of the former regime. The US, which backs a Kurdish militia in the east, also has bases in the country.

Sheikh Hikmat has welcomed the removal of Mr Al Assad but has called for an inclusive civil administration to replace the former regime, implying that the new state must be secular.

A European diplomat in Jordan said the status of the Druze and other minorities was discussed during a brief meeting in Amman between King Abdullah and Mr Al Shara. The king condemned the Israeli attacks, and “affirmed support for Syria's unity and sovereignty”.