Concerns about the violence affecting the Druze community in Syria are prevalent, with many expressing outrage over perceived injustices and a sense of hopelessness regarding international inaction. There is a strong sentiment of frustration over the ongoing humanitarian crisis, skepticism towards the efficacy of the ceasefire, and a desire for genuine peace rather than politically motivated interventions.

Druze community

Al-Jolani's government

International community

Syrian government

Israel

Very balanced reporting

I would just add.

Sweida is unfortunately a week away from a humanitarian disaster, as it survives on food and fuel supplies from Damascus.

Neighboring Sunni governates merchants and business people (enraged by the killings of fellow Sunnis and the Israeli attacks on them, Damascus, Daraa, Damascus Countryside) have called for a general boycott against selling to Sweida.

Jordan is unlikely to open a route to Sweida. 

They urgently need humanitarian aid.

  
Sunnis and Druze have lived together for 1000s of years, fringe elements from both sides won't change that. 

Allah y7me el jamee3

Standard_Ad7704

Thanks for providing a summary. I wasn't awar at all what happened in syria beside seying parts here and there in the news.

3toonehProzac

The situation of Lebanon todais thanks to israel, who expelled the palestinian, later helped the Christian to commit masacres against palestinian. Those actions later give birth to Hizboallah that many suni hates  

Israel is doing exactly that in Syria they have Druze in the army because interest are with israel.  They use that to support Druze in Swuaida to refuse to be partofgovernment.  The militia druze have since attacking the beduin in vice-versa.  

But what Israel has always wanted is fragmented. Syria, in presisent in his stupidity, have allowed this to happen.  If Syria fragmented, it will come Le

Unfortunately, both Lebanese and Syrian trusted israel, and the result is that Lebanon is a failed state and Syria being burned.  Both blame Palestinian and suni, respectively, but is israel 

By way israel isn't pro Druze.  Druze support everyone in Power as long as have benefits that is reason why Palestinian christian have suffered along side the muslim

Infinite-World-5628

This is just like the Lebanese Civil War but with Druze instead of  Christians

BabylonianWeeb

The Israeli Head-genocidal maniac announced that he will not let Syrian military forces re-enter southern Syria, under the pretense of helping the Druze population!

A part of me can't help but think that this whole debacle was intentionally created for this specific end goal. This is rather chilling... These guys are doing whatever they want and taking any land they want! They never left the Golan Heights, and they will never get out of southern Syria. Now we will share even more borders with them!

We should be careful in Lebanon, as they will use any internal division to enter and "protect us." Their end goal is to make as many gains as they can during the Trump era, as it seems he will shield them from any international scrutiny. Public opinion around the world is turning against them, but that means very little until there is a change in the U.S. administration. So, we've got a tough 3.5 years ahead

zaherdab

Thank you as a Syrian for taking a non bias approach to this, unlike many here. 

East-Potential-574

The crime minister of the Israeli apartheid state couldn't care less about the Druze. If you believe he's genuinely helping or cares about their well-being, you're an absolute idiot. He is using them to steal Syrian lands.

Qoutaybah

"The day after government troops withdrew, reports surfaced of hundreds of Sunni tribe members being assassinated by Druze forces."

Where is this from? Haven't seen this on the news.

Azrayeel

**NOTE:** This was a report from Reuters that was originally filed 24 hours ago and precedes any of the events of the past 24 hours. 

&gt;One elderly man had been shot in the head in his living room. Another in his bedroom. The body of a woman lay in the street. After days of bloodshed in Syria's Druze city of Sweida, survivors emerged on Thursday to collect and bury the scores of dead found across the city.

&gt;A ceasefire announced on Wednesday night brought an end to ferocious fighting between Druze militia and government forces sent to the city to quell clashes between Druze and Bedouin fighters.

&gt;**The violence worsened sharply after the arrival of government forces, according to accounts to Reuters by a dozen residents of Sweida, two reporters on the ground and a monitoring group.**

&gt;Residents described friends and neighbours being shot at close range in their homes or in the streets. They said the killings were carried out by Syrian troops, identified by their fatigues and the insignia on them.

&gt;**The residents of Sweida who Reuters spoke to said the bloodshed had deepened their distrust of the Islamist-led government in Damascus and their worries about how Sharaa would ensure that Syria's minority groups were protected.**

&gt;In sectarian violence in Syria's coastal region in March hundreds of people from the Alawite minority were killed by forces aligned to Sharaa.

&gt;"I can't keep up with the calls coming in now about the dead," said Kenan Azzam, a dentist who lives on the eastern outskirts of Sweida and spoke to Reuters by phone.

&gt;He said he had just learned of the killing of a friend, agricultural engineer Anis Nasser, who he said had been taken from his home by government forces this week.

&gt;"Today, they found his dead body in a pile of bodies in Sweida city," Azzam said.

&gt;Another Sweida resident, who asked to be identified only as Amer out of fear of reprisals, shared a video that he said depicted his slain neighbours in their home.

&gt;The video, which Reuters was not able to independently verify, showed the body of one man in a chair. On the floor were an elderly man with a gunshot wound to his right temple and a younger man, face down, in a pool of blood.

&gt;In a video statement early on Thursday, Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said that protecting the rights of Druze was among his priorities and blamed "outlaw groups" seeking to inflame tensions for any crimes against civilians.

&gt;The Syrian Network for Human Rights, a rights monitor that documented violations throughout the civil war and has continued its work, said on Friday it had verified 321 people killed in Sweida, including medical personnel, women and children.

&gt;Its head, Fadel Abdulghany, said the figure included field executions by both sides, Syrians killed by Israeli strikes and others killed in clashes, but that it would take time to break down figures for each category.

&gt;SHOT AT CLOSE RANGE

&gt;When Sharaa's forces began fighting their way from northwest Syria to Damascus last year, many minorities feared the rebels and were heartened when fighters passed their towns and went straight to the capital.

&gt;A reporter in Sweida who asked not to be identified said he witnessed government forces shoot four people at close range, including a woman and teenage boys.

&gt;He said bodies littered the streets.

&gt;One of them, a woman, lay face up on the pavement with an apparent stab wound to the stomach, he said.

&gt;One resident, who asked to remain anonymous, showed the reporter the body of his slain brother in a bedroom of their home on Tuesday. He had been shot in the head.

&gt;A video verified by Reuters showed two bodies on a commercial street in central Sweida. Another showed bodies, several with gunshot wounds to the chest, in the Al-Radwan guest house in Sweida.

&gt;Ryan Maarouf of local media outlet Suwayda24 told Reuters on Thursday he had found a family of 12 killed in one house, including naked women, an elderly man and two young girls.

&gt;It was not possible to verify who killed the people in these cases.

&gt;LOOTING HOMES

&gt;The reporter said he heard government forces yell "pigs" and "infidels" at Druze residents.

&gt;The reporter said troops looted refrigerators and solar panels from homes and burned homes and alcohol shops, including after the ceasefire was announced on Wednesday.

&gt;Some of the residents interviewed by Reuters said government forces shaved off the moustaches of Druze men - a humiliating act.

&gt;Spokespeople for the interior and defence ministries did not immediately respond to questions on troops looting, burning homes, or using sectarian language and shaving moustaches.

&gt;As the violence unfolded, Israel's military began strikes on government convoys in Sweida and the defence ministry and near the presidential palace in Damascus.

&gt;U.S. intervention helped end the fighting. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "historic longtime rivalries" between Druze and Bedouin communities had "led to an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding, it looks like, between the Israeli side and the Syrian side."

Infantlystupid

I’ve been pretty vocal supporting Damascus in this, and I still do. But articles like this are important to showcase that no side has clean hands in the past few days. 

After government forces pulled out, the massacres have been reversed to the remaining Bedouins, and now Bedouins across Syria have mobilized and arrived in Sweida. 

Israel and the Druze are now asking for government forces to come back in to stop the Bedouins, but they have not moved from the border, scared of drawing in Israel further. So currently the province is on a path to being engulfed in sectarian warfare with no side strong enough to stop it willing to do it anymore. Fucked up situation.

Legodude293

We need an international coalition to impose a ceasefire like in Kosovo

Boring-Journalist-14

#####&amp;#009;

######&amp;#009;

####&amp;#009;

&gt; # [‘Shot in the head, as if executed’: four days of violence end with hundreds dead in southern Syria](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c30aaf7ba5408f9de2ff875bcd03d30c8da24567/465_0_4147_3318/master/4147.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=630&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=crop&amp;precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&amp;overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&amp;overlay-width=100p&amp;overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&amp;enable=upscale&amp;s=1d2ad836d72ab72f8875ccbb49e9ccee)
&gt;   
&gt;   
&gt;   
&gt; Bahaa\* had no choice but to keep on working as patient after patient came through the doors of the Sweida National hospital in southern [Syria](https://www.theguardian.com/world/syria). Almost all bore similar injuries: gunshot wounds and bodies shredded by shrapnel from nearby exploding artillery.
&gt;   
&gt; “There were hundreds of wounded, no less than 200 bodies in the hospital. Many of them shot in the head, as if executed,” said Bahaa, a surgeon speaking of the events of this week in Sweida under a pseudonym for fear of retribution.
&gt;   
&gt; Videos filmed inside the hospital showed hallways lined with corpses, rooms stacked with body bags and corpses piled up outside. A second doctor from the intensive care unit said bodies had to be placed outside the morgue for lack of space.
&gt;   
&gt; The casualties, both civilian and military, were some of at least 516 civilians and fighters killed in four days of clashes in the Druze-majority province, according to figures given by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
&gt;   
&gt; At least 86 of those killed were field executions of Druze civilians by government fighters or allied militias, as well as three Bedouin civilians killed by Druze fighters, SOHR said.
&gt;   
&gt; [Armed Syrian Bedouin fighters riding motorcycles](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f2fddc670eeb493e702611240298b92b94d5f41b/707_0_3535_2828/master/3535.jpg?width=445&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none)
&gt;   
&gt; Syrian Bedouin fighters seen in Sweida province on Thursday. Photograph: Khalil Ashawi/Reuters
&gt;   
&gt; The fighting, begun by a local dispute between Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters, quickly escalated and prompted Syrian government forces to intervene. Druze fighters resisted their entry into the province and clashes began with Syrian government forces.
&gt;   
&gt; Residents described four days of terror as fighting quickly took on a sectarian flavour – the violence was the most serious threat to Syria’s stability since March, when 1,500 mostly Alawite civilians were killed after a failed attack on government forces.
&gt;   
&gt; Syria’s president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has pledged to protect the country’s minorities since the toppling of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December. He now leads a country riven by sectarian divisions after 14 years of civil war, without the resources to engage in the transitional justice needed to heal it.
&gt;   
&gt; The president, a former al-Qaida leader turned statesman, has been welcomed on to the international stage but there are deep misgivings about him among Syria’s minorities back home.
&gt;   
&gt; [Map of Sweida and Deraa provinces](https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader/embed/2025/07/israel_syria_map/giv-32554V10CYlxGPI7W/)
&gt;   
&gt; As the [Syrian military withdrew from the city](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/17/syrian-president-condemns-israels-attacks-on-damascus-and-vows-to-protect-druze-community) on Wednesday, people began to emerge from their houses and take stock of their losses.
&gt;   
&gt; At least 15 unarmed people were killed at a reception hall belonging to the prominent Radwan family in Sweida city on Tuesday, three members of the family told the Guardian. SOHR also reported the killings, though put the number of dead at 12.
&gt;   
&gt; “They were sitting there drinking coffee when gunmen came in and just started shooting. There are no weapons allowed in the hall, it’s not like it’s a military base,” said Maan Radwan, a 46-year-old London resident whose relatives were killed in the shooting.
&gt;   
&gt; Sweida residents blamed government-affiliated forces for the killings but witnesses said it was impossible to distinguish between state security forces and rogue militias. The Guardian could not independently verify who was responsible for the killings.
&gt;   
&gt; An eyewitness said the attackers were wearing army fatigues but could not tell if they were from government-affiliated forces or a militia. “It’s impossible to tell who is killing us,” a 52-year-old teacher and relative of the Radwan family in Sweida told the Guardian by phone.
&gt;   
&gt; Video of the aftermath of the shooting showed unarmed men strewn across a room lying in pools of blood. Family members said men in army fatigues prevented ambulances from reaching the reception hall, which they thought was meant to ensure the wounded died from blood loss.
&gt;   
&gt; Bahaa received the bodies of those killed in the Radwan shooting at the hospital, some of whom he knew personally, and said that their bodies bore close-range gunshot wounds. He would recognise many more of the corpses that would later come through the hospital doors.
&gt;   
&gt; Conditions in the hospital itself became desperate as fighters besieged the facility. Doctors hid in the hallways as bullets and artillery flew by, and the hospital itself was hit at least once. They began to ration medicine and other basic supplies.
&gt;   
&gt; “We were trying to limit each wounded person to 2 or 3CCs of Tramadol and we would dilute it so it would last for everyone,” the doctor from the intensive care unit said.
&gt;   
&gt; Al-Sharaa gave a speech on Thursday condemning the abuses against civilians and said there would be accountability. The Syrian defence ministry also said it was “adhering to rules of engagement to protect residents”.
&gt;   
&gt; “We are determined to hold accountable anyone who wronged or harmed our Druze brethren. They are under the protection and responsibility of the state, and the law and justice guarantee the rights of all without exception,” the Syrian president said.
&gt;   
&gt; On their private social media seen by the Guardian, two government forces members posted sectarian hate speech against Druze.
&gt;   
&gt; One posted a video of him and two other soldiers driving through Sweida laughing as he said: “We are on our way to distribute aid,” while brandishing a machete to the camera. He filmed himself inside a house in Sweida ripping a picture of Druze spiritual leaders off a wall and trampling it with his boots.
&gt;   
&gt; “If God grants you victory, none can defeat you … On behalf of the tribes, oh Druze and Alawites, we are coming for you with sectarianism,” he continued.
&gt;   
&gt; Another fighter posted a video of him driving through the town of Sahwa Blata in Sweida province, pausing to gloat over two dead bodies on the sidewalk as he filmed.
&gt;   
&gt; “These are your dogs, al-Hijri. Anyone who stands against the state this is what will happen to them,” he said, referring to the most staunchly anti-government of the three Druze spiritual leaders, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri.
&gt;   
&gt; Yousef\* recognised the two men in the video as his cousin and his cousin’s son. He had no idea prior that they were dead.
&gt;   
&gt; “They called me at 7am that morning and most of the people had fled the village. They didn’t know what to do, and they didn’t have any guns at all,” said Yousef, a 25-year-old civil engineer in Sweida.
&gt;   
&gt; [Arab Bedouins rest in the open with their belongings](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b9afd92a7d3f5b445656c965854c28d70944b207/864_0_4304_3445/master/4304.jpg?width=445&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none)
&gt;   
&gt; Arab Bedouins rest in the open with their belongings on 17 July near the town of Busra al-Harir in the countryside of the Daraa governorate after fleeing Sweida. Photograph: Ahmad Fallaha/EPA
&gt;   
&gt; Despite the ceasefire on Wednesday, intermittent violence seemed to continue. Rumours of another Bedouin attack on Sweida prompted a mass exodus of residents on Thursday. Yousef sent a video of him interviewing people as they fled. One had two body bags in the bed of his pickup truck. Unzipping the one of the body bags, Yousef showed the camera the body of a woman, her throat slit.
&gt;   
&gt; The cycle of tit-for-tat violence which carried sectarian overtones threatens the unity of the new Syrian state, which authorities in Damascus were desperately trying to hold together. Mistrust between the Druze and the new authorities, and vice versa, has fallen to an all time low.
&gt;   
&gt; Syrian state media reported on Thursday that there were now attacks on the small Bedouin communities in Sweida, prompting further displacement and what it called massacres by “outlaw groups”.
&gt;   
&gt; Social media was flooded by another round of images of dead civilians, this time, they claimed, it was the Druze attacking the Bedouins. The Guardian could not independently verify the veracity of those videos.
&gt;
&gt; ***(continues in next comment)***

empleadoEstatalBot

What is the best solution here? UN Peacekeepers? Some other third-party mediator (not Israel or the U.S., lol)? Turkey’s involved as well, and that doesn’t seem to be doing shit. If Syrian government forces are actively participating in or unable to contain the sectarian violence, people will continue to die and regional opportunists will swoop in like vultures to pick off whatever they can.

onepareil

This has been going on for a while now. The Syrian government has had trouble controlling some of its forces. Attacks against minorities (Druze, Alawite, ect.) have been going on sporadically for months. Israel is using this situation to intervene to secure its own aims.

I don't think there can be a stable Syria unless the Islamist and radical elements of the Syrian government are brought to heel.

Odd_Substance226

So we are going to see parades in the streets in London, across school campuses, and a mass campaign with stickers to help Syria, right?

The "anti-genocide" crowd is going to hop in and come to the defense of the druze... any second. 

Any second now.

Drag for Druze? Anyone? Beuller?

CastleElsinore

[[[I don't like being that conspiracy guy. But I can see Israel instigating this to have Druze emigrate to Israel. Like how Zionists bombed Jewish businesses in Iraq to have them emigrate to Israel.]]] Redacted

Plus it gives Israel a reason to "continue peacekeeping" on Syria's side of the border.

Bitedamnn

This wouldn't have happened if Assad stayed in power. He kept radical Islamists under control, but the West had to get rid of him because Israel didn't like him.

Gloomy-Artist9716

Jihadism is a global problem that can only truly be solved by a globalized anti-jihadist intifada.

Thankfully, the world is starting to wake up to the global threat that jihadism poses. Anti-jihadist resistance is always entirely justified, and the resistance grows stronger with every passing day.

Dampened_Panties

It's going to be really interesting to see how Israel's current government chooses to thread this needle going forward, because it's pulled between two competing interests right now.

---

On the one hand, Israel's populace and government both have a strong military interest in locking down a co-operative peace along its Syrian border. This would increase its margin of safety by significantly reducing the chance of attack from a Syrian military in the near-term, and hopefully longer. 

At the same time, this would likely *significantly* choke off the Syrian ground route of arms from the Iranian regime toward Hezbollah in southern Lebanon during a period when Hezbollah is trying to regain its domestic footing after last summer's pager attack and ground fighting.

---

On the other hand, Israel also has a strong domestic-political push in the opposite direction to support the Druze. 

Druze are an Arabic-speaking ethno-religious group that has historically been persecuted in the region by hegemonic Muslim Arab societies similarly to how Jews in the region had been historically treated by their neighbours. Druze in Israel serve in the IDF's combat units at rates *higher than Jews' combat participation*, and most Jewish Israelis view Druze Israelis as a community of blood brothers (note: this isn't a perfectly symmetrical affinity, depending on which Druze community is being described. This view is extremely reciprocated by the Carmel Druze communites, with Golan Druze communities mainaining a cordial neutrality). The term "blood pact" is frequently used domestically to describe the Druze who have fought alongside Jews in multiple wars. 

Druze in Israel, especially in the Golan are enraged at the killings of their people across the border in southern Syria, and have been literally breaking down border fences over the past week and pushing through IDF barricades to come to thefighting aid of their relatives in Syria.

---

The desire to secure a northern peace with Syria and the urge to stand alongside its domestic Druze communities are in direct tension with one another here, from the position of Israel's interests.

It seems so far that Israel has chosen the latter, but the situation is incredibly fluid and it's not wholly predictable how Israel will choose to navigate the situation based on a pretty wide array of possible responses by al-Sharaa's Syrian government and Sharaa-aligned domestic militant groups.

---

Apologies for length. This shit's *messy.*

The_Phaedron

This signals a complex escalation in southern Syria, where ethnic and religious minority dynamics intersect with external military intervention. Israel's strong stance on defending Druze populations, some of whom share close ties with Israeli Druze communities, suggests that any further violence could spark broader regional confrontation.

Ok-Present5699

Fighting has already resumed, several villages are taken by tribal fighters. Revenge killings have already happened on both sides so I doubt it will stop tonight

SpectatingAmateur

I hope he stands by his word.


We want a peaceful stable Syria, we don't want a Syria that slaughters its minorities. Especially the druze who coexist with literally anyone.


Glad Israel put them in place. Their actions save lives

stickypoint

Going to be difficult between the revenge killings on Bedouins and Israel announcing the Syrian government is not allowed to have any armed forces south of Damascus

saithor

Delicious_Clue_531

After all that's happened it is unlikely. For example, Alawites rights' weren't protected before during or after the massacres that were commited to them. Only difference now is that they faced resistance from the Druze which forced Sharaa's forces to retreat. Edit: typos

Redfofo

Al qaeda guy in the suit is still a terrorist.

AshK2K25

Druze militias are now committing revenge killings on Bedouin civilians.

I honestly don't see how Syria is going to avoid a Libya situation at this point.

Stippings

The man in the suit continues, sends militia that butchers the Druze but then smiles to the camera

Obvious_Donut3642

This entire episode will only deepen internal support for Sharaa. Israel’s supposedly defending a subset of the Druze population. A big portion of the Druze support Sharaa and the prospect of a unified Syria. This will definitely create a rally ‘round the flag effect. Lebanon 2.0 here we go.

Lunarmeric

Yeah, no, the puppet has has outlived his usefulness. Wagging tail to your master's master now is too late.

When the time is right “free media^(TM)” will repaint Ahmed al-Sharaa as a terrorist again and he can be safely discarded, and Syria will be dismembered and colonized even more than it currently is.

wolflance1

I'm honestly so downed by recent videos and reports of Syria, the druze are going through a genocide while people who had never been been even close to the middle east try to show it as some kind of Israeli aggression to continue feeding their hero complex.

  
you can also condemn el and raise awareness to whatever is going on Gaza while also using your platform to showcase what is going on Syria, everyone knows about Gaza at this point and counties are working to stop it. while Syria has almost no coverage.

  
the hypocrisy I'm seeing from people who are pretending to be peace activists is sticking. the fact that people are saying "oh it's just random gangs and not the government"

is insane, the fact that the government doesn't intervine means it clearly supports it.

OkCalligrapher9679

This is most Zionist BS propaganda I’ve ever witnessed. By large Druze community, do you mean the 1.6%? Israel had already fired 400 military targets pretty soon after the new government came into power.

Israel is weaponising the Druze minority to antagonise the new Syrian government. Assad’s forces killed 500,000 people in the civil war, not to mention IS - did Israel do anything then? But the minute the new government came into power they destroyed all of its military.

It’s astonishing to see people are arguing otherwise to falsely portray Israel as a good willed state protecting the goyim

Fragrant-Cow-7017

A Syrian celebrity said recently that both the Golan and Palestine belong to Syria, an after glow of what  Ahmed Shukairy said on On May 31, 1956. Palestine will never be free, at least Syria thinks it belongs to itself.


By posting this information elsewhere, I learned about echo chambers. There was no discussion, just a denouncement and a lightining strike, and poof no more convo.


Syria can deal with it. They never normalized with Israel.

Ok-Pangolin1512

That’s not what’s happening, fighting started between Tribal fighters and Druze fighters in Suwedia, Syrias security forces and then the Army went into stop the fighting to which then the Druze started attacking and denounce the Syrian Government. A prominent Druze sheikh also came out and denounced Sharra. Israel then attacked in complete violation of Syrian sovereignty and bombed the Syrian army. A ceasefire was then declared to be put into effect Tuesday. And not a big shocker here, Israel somehow broke it and deliberately bombed when the ceasefire was going into effect causing the fighting to continue. Israel is exploiting the internal conflict in Syria and is probably insurrecting it so they could try and justify illegally invading Syria. You’re just delusional on propaganda if you think Israel wants to protect innocent Druze lives while Genociding Palestinians in Gaza

Narrow-Context-3557

hi_reddit_2

How is this any different from Israeli criticism of Hamas attacking on Oct 7th? Israel attacks Syria in support of the Druze who face oppression by Syrian Islamists, Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7th in support of the Palestinians who faced oppression by Israel. There was a ceasefire before Oct 7th? There was also a ceasefire and normalization by Ahmad Al-Sharaa's new Syrian government with Israel. 

One side attacking the country next door in support of a people facing oppression is justified but not the other. Let's call this what it really is. Israel starting an unprovoked war against one of the few neighbouring sovereign Arab countries that actually want to normalize and have friendly relations with it.

Where was Israel when the Alawites were massacred by Syrian Islamists and pleaded for help? So much for "defending the oppressed minority".

Resident1567899

How is this any different from Israeli criticism of Hamas attacking on Oct 7th? Israel attacks Syria in support of the Druze who face oppression by Syrian Islamists, Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7th in support of the Palestinians who faced oppression by Israel. There was a ceasefire before Oct 7th? There was also a ceasefire and normalization by Ahmad Al-Sharaa's new Syrian government with Israel. 

One side attacking the country next door in support of a people facing oppression is justified but not the other. Let's call this what it really is. Israel starting an unprovoked war against one of the few neighbouring sovereign Arab countries that actually want to normalize and have friendly relations with it.

Jolani and his group were called "rebels" during the civil war, and now almost every news publication is calling his government an "Islamic regime." Bro is gonna get Gaddafi'd

Not what your wrote in that trash you call a post I quoted your genocidal self from. No one but your pathetic flailing self thinks what I wrote is in any way racist or prejudiced against Jewish people or Judaism. 

Many if not most of the historical figures I admire the most were Jews whom the zionist colonizers want Jews to not be like. Rosa Luxembourg is an example that comes to mind. Throughout the past centuries of history since industrialization, Jews in the west have led the way on progressive politics and social justice. 

Many jews are disgusted, outraged at how people like you use them and their history of persecution and struggle to shield Israeli crimes against humanity. Actor Mandy Paitikin came out just a fews days ago and said as much with such conviction I almost cried. 

You are a disgusting propagandist for one of the most inhumane regimes in modern times. You excuse the total destruction of an entire population’s society and means to live. I can not imagine a greater insult to the memory of the suffering of the Jewish people.

spectatorsport101

Mobile_Blackberry298

This is the third large scale attack by the new regime or its allies. The regime is made up members of former members of jihadi groups like Al Qaida. 

At this point, a clear pattern is emerging. The new regime is complicit in large scale massacres of minority communities in Syria where the massacres are driven by jihadi sentiments. The leftist media’s first instinct is to defend the jihadists and condemn Israel while spreading misinformation about what is actually happening. After some time passes, the true story emerges. The most disturbing details about these Islamists massacres come out. However, by the time the details come out the media moves on and everything is forgotten…

BizzareRep

Western media, with very few exceptions, has been taken over by oil money-backed narratives and far left radicals. There is no longer any independent media, there is journalism that is to shape the news not report on it, and activism disguised as objective reporting.

Spirited_Volume2385

cabelowsc

What’s actually happened is Hijiri’s pro-Assad thugs and Bedouins each took hostages and the government went in to stop the clashes. Hijri’s goons then kidnapped and murdered government forces which convinced the government his men need to be disarmed once and for all and went to deal with them. Israel decided they don’t want that because they want Syria to remained divided and eventually dismantle it (as Smotrich has admitted) https://x.com/levant_24_/status/1917260730220335442?s=46  
so they’re doing the same shit Russia did in Ukraine. It’s literally the same justification “protecting ethnic Druze in Suwayda. Protecting ethnic Russians in Donbas”


Syria is just defending itself from what are terrorists (if you believe Hamas to be terrorists than Hijri’s goons are by the same standard) but apparently only white people have the right to defend themselves from terrorists in your eyes

On a separate note. Isn’t it funny that every time Netanyahu’s trial is about to advance something just happens to occur that causes it to be delayed? Must be a coincidence

Phoenix7367

Israel is an enemy of the West because Israel is bombing the new pro-western government in Syria. It seems like Israel would rather have an anti-western government like Assad or ISIS in control of Syria. Israel does not have good intentions in Syria because Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Apart-Strawberry-876

God might work hard but the Israel war crime defenders work harder. There isn’t a missile unjustified, a dead civilian unwarranted, or a military excursion without reason with you fellas

Serious-Top7925

I’ll be honest I don’t think this narrative holds up when you zoom out a bit. Yeah, the Guardian frames things through its usual lens, but this idea that Israel is just stepping in out of noble intent to protect the Druze doesn’t explain their behavior on the ground.

Israel’s recent moves in southern Syria consistently push frontlines toward key water infrastructure like the Yarmouk Basin, Al-Wahda Dam, and strategic wells like Ain al-Tineh. Every new advance ends right up against a river, reservoir, or freshwater source. Even beyond the UN buffer zone, they’re building roads and expanding fortified zones in areas rich in water resources. This isn’t just about a quick cross-border response to sectarian clashes, it’s a longer-term strategy to control critical resources.

I’m not saying Israel doesn’t have domestic political pressure from its Druze community, but when you watch the frontlines, this pattern of "protective interventions" happens to conveniently align with expanding territorial control over things like freshwater access.

So yeah, media bias exists, but the story also doesn’t start with "Israel protects Druze" it starts with a decades-long occupation of Syrian land and creeping advances whenever the opportunity arises. That’s context too.

No-Baker-2864

I think  the bedouins are just jihadists who want to finish off thr un believing druze. The new Syrian regime came to help thr jihadists but got blown up by israel

Great-Confection6760

*They start a story in the middle, leave out the context, and then just repeat whoever hates Israel's explanation of why Israel is involved.* 

so the problem is the copyright infringement on how everything Israel does in the middle east is because of the last Palestinian attack ie october 7th? Because NOTHING that happened before tha thas mattered in the news for the past year.

BigNorseWolf

I mean from what i hear the current fighting between Druze and Bedouins in Sweida is more of a case of everyone sucks here. With both sides robbing, attacking, and kidnapping members of the other side. Someone needs to find a way to form a peace between the Bedouin clans and the Druze. Ideally it would be the Syrian state solving that.

AP has good reporting on it here:

[https://apnews.com/article/syria-druze-clashes-explainer-sweida-bedouin-b591788d6573d48cc6aebc2edef4d649](https://apnews.com/article/syria-druze-clashes-explainer-sweida-bedouin-b591788d6573d48cc6aebc2edef4d649)

PerceivingUnkown

It's not just the Guardian, Syrian media started lying about the incident immediately.   Their narrative spread throughout the Arab world through Arab media within 2 hours.  Within 5 hours it was the dominant narrative in the international media.  The UN itself refused to allow the Druze story to be disseminated because they claim it couldn't be "verified".  

The Arab world is a well greased propaganda machine.  

On the ground level, the Arab conspiracy theories are now in full force.  According to most average Arabs in say Jordan, Egypt and Syria, the Druze Sheikh is a traitor, working with the evil Zionist regime to try to conquer "from the Nile to Euphates" and destabalize the Arab world. That the Druze are terrorists and started this by ambushing the Bedouin and Syrian forces. 

And for some reason, the majority of the world just goes along with it. 

F the UN.

Fragrant-Ocelot-3552

&gt; Israel's large Druze population **pressured** the Israeli government to invervene, so Israel is now bombing Syrian military vehicles heading towards the Druze region.

Druze are Israeli allies and worth protecting without 'pressure'. On top of this relationship and trust with the Druze, It serves Israel's interest not to have rocket launchers  or jihadists close to its border, the Druze by living there protect Israel and create a buffer zone.

TheSameDifference

The media still have to digest that Al-Qaida are now supposed to be the good guys.

Top-Reaction-5492

Just like I constantly push back on mislabelling the Gazan campaign genocide, I'm going to push back on this being labelled one. 

The Druze have a reasonable basis to fear, after what happened to Alawites in March, that they may be the target of intent to destroy. But that is not a guarantee that intent is evident. 

Wider context: the fight started as a Bedouin v Druze campaign for control. Militias have come in and run amock. 

Nothing yet suggests genocide, and Israel intervened because of domestic pressure from a pro-Druze Israeli public as well as Druze in Israel itself. 

Hyperbole is nobody's friend.

StreetCarp665

Yes, this is standard Pro-Pali tactic. Spread blood libel about Israel. The Guardian is a master of spreading pro-pali propaganda. They bury the critical fact that Israel is preventing genocide.

Israel is always accused for its actions without consideration of what caused those actions.

thedudeLA

Escalating sectarian clashes in Syria's Sweida province have led to hundreds of deaths, complicating efforts for peace amid ongoing violence.

Syria Druze-Bedouin Violence and Ceasefire Update

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