Why Israel attacked Syria

ISRAEL launched a wave of strikes on Syria this week, which hit the presidential palace and Defence Ministry in Damascus. Israel said the attacks were meant to protect Syria’s Druze minority.

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The Israeli intervention stemmed from a sectarian conflict on Syria’s southern border — where Druze and Bedouin groups have clashed. The Israeli attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday killed at least three people in Syria and injured dozens, including women and children, before the Syrian government and Druze leader announced a ceasefire on Wednesday, which remains tenuous.

Israeli leaders said they launched attacks on Syria this week to protect members of the Druze religious group in the country’s south, amid clashes in the area.

“Israel is committed to preventing harm being inflicted on the Druze in Syria, owing to the deep covenant of blood with our Druze citizens in Israel and their historical and familial link to the Druze in Syria,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement this week. “We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them, and to ensure the demilitarisation of the region adjacent to our border with Syria.”

Syrian government forces were dispatched to the majority-Druze southern Syrian province of Sweida last weekend, in response to clashes between the Druze and Sunni Bedouins. But the Druze pushed back against Syrian military presence in the area, and Israel struck Syrian military targets on Tuesday after some Druze militias confronted the Syrian military, seeking to deny them access to Sweida.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry described the Israeli strikes as part of a “deliberate policy” on the part of Israel to “inflame tensions, spread chaos and undermine security and stability in Syria.” Still, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Thursday that Syrian forces would withdraw from Sweida.