Syria Showdown: Who Are The Druze And Why Is Israel Clashing With Sharaa’s Forces To Protect Them?

For much of Syria’s 14-year civil war, Sweida remained under the de facto control of Druze militias. These groups had stayed largely autonomous, defending their territory but avoiding deeper involvement in the broader conflict. After Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December 2024, Syria’s new rulers demanded that all armed factions dissolve and integrate into the national army. In January, the two largest Druze groups expressed readiness to do so but said that the state has delayed acting on that agreement. Now, as the government forces entered their territory by force, following clashes between Druze and Bedouins, those tensions have boiled over. Meanwhile, Israel has declared that it is “committed to preventing harm to the Druze due to the deep brotherly alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel and their familial and historical ties to the Druze in Syria”. n18oc_world n18oc_crux