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Israel issued a strong warning to Syria on Wednesday, threatening to intensify its attacks unless the Syrian government withdraws its forces from the country’s south.
This ultimatum follows several days of deadly clashes between Druze and Bedouin communities in the Sweida region.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz urged Damascus to “leave the Druze in Sweida alone” after Syrian troops were deployed to quell the unrest.
Katz reiterated Israel’s firm stance: “As we have made clear and warned, Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarisation policy we have decided on.”
He explicitly stated that Israeli military attacks would continue and “raise the level of responses against the regime if the message is not understood” until Syrian forces pull out.
In February, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already declared that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, emphasising Israel’s refusal to accept the presence of Damascus’s Islamist-led government near its borders.
The head of Israel’s Druze community, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, described the situation on Wednesday as “an existential battle for the Druze community.”
Israel’s military had previously announced that it struck Syrian government military vehicles in the Sweida area on Tuesday following the clashes.
Witnesses and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Syrian government forces participated in the fighting alongside the Bedouin against the Druze.
