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30 April 2025, Jerusalem/Damascus, Reuters reports – Israel says it has launched a pre-emptive strike against an extremist group in Syria that was preparing an attack on the Druze community, fulfilling its pledge to protect the minority amid widespread violence in Druze areas near Damascus.
The strike was the latest Israeli military operation in Syria, where the country sees Sunni Islamists who seized power in December as a growing threat on its border. Israel has sent troops to southwestern Syria and vowed to defend its friends.
In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said the strike was aimed at an extremist group that was preparing to continue its attack on friends in the city of Sakhnaya, south of Damascus. “At the same time, a message was sent to the Syrian regime: Israel expects it to act to prevent harm to the Druze,” they said.
A representative of the Syrian Interior Ministry, commenting on the situation with Sakhnai, told Reuters that he had no information about the attack.
Sectarian violence On Tuesday, sectarian violence erupted between Druze and Sunni armed groups in the predominantly Druze neighbourhood of Jaramana near Damascus. More than a dozen people were reportedly killed. On Wednesday, the violence spread to Sakhnaya, another Druze neighbourhood. The Syrian Ministry of Health reported that 11 people were killed and several others injured after “criminal groups” attacked civilians and security personnel.
The conflict was triggered by an audio recording in which, according to Sunni militants, a representative of the Druze minority insulted the Prophet Muhammad. The Syrian Interior Ministry said it was investigating the origin of the recording and called for calm.
The Druze are a religious community derived from Islam and have followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
Intense fighting Residents of Sakhnaya reported intense street fighting throughout Wednesday. “We are in panic and fear because of the indiscriminate shelling, which is forcing us to stay at home,” said Elias Hanna, a resident of the outskirts of Sakhnaya. “We are afraid that massacres like the one on the coast will be repeated near Sakhnaya against our friends,” he added.
Syria’s Interior Ministry has stated that it will fight with an “iron hand” anyone seeking to destabilise the country.
The new Islamist leadership in Damascus has called on all armed groups to submit to their authority, but friendly fighters are resisting, saying that Damascus does not guarantee their protection from enemy fighters.
Israel’s response In March, Israel reaffirmed its readiness to defend its Syrian friends after the killing of hundreds of Alawites in western Syria, a sectarian bloodbath attributed to forces loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
These developments have increased the fears of Syrian minorities about the Islamist government, despite interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s repeated assurances of inclusive governance.
There is a small Druze community in Israel, and about 24,000 Druze live in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which was captured from Syria during the 1967 war.
The spiritual leader of the Friends in Israel, Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif, said he was closely following the events in Syria and had discussed them with the Israeli Minister of Defence.
For years, Israel has been striking Syria in an effort to limit the influence of Iran, an ally of Assad.
