The Druze and What’s to Come in Syria

[Want even more content from FPM? Sign up for FPM+ to unlock exclusive series, virtual town-halls with our authors, and more—now for just $3.99/month. Click here to sign up.]

After the mass slaughter of Alawite civilians by forces sent to Latakia by the Sunni jihadists in Damascus, Syria’s jihadist President Ahmed al-Sharaa can forget about having American sanctions lifted. It won’t happen until his jihadist regime is toppled. He needs now to worry about the UN sending an international force to Latakia, to protect the Alawites from further slaughter. More can be found here: “Tulsi Gabbard’s warning to Senate on Syria proves prophetic as Al Qaeda-linked regime slaughters minorities,” by Benjamin Weinthal, Fox News, March 8, 2025:

Moussa al-Omar, a Syrian media figure close to the country’s new leadership, told Reuters that tens of thousands of fighters in Syria’s newly constituted security forces had been deployed to the coast in the operation and that order had been largely restored as of Friday night.

He said the crackdown was “a message to anyone in the south or east of Syria that the state . . . is capable of a military resolution at any time, even as it seeks peaceful solutions.”…

“In the south” is a reference to the Israelis who, as soon as Assad fell, went into Syrian territory, seized the Syrian side of Mt. Hermon, and also built a military outpost in an area beyond the pre-existing buffer zone between Israel and Syria that had been established on the Golan in 1975. “In the south” also refers to the 600,000 Druze who live south of Damascus, and during the civil war had gained a large measure of autonomy. Now they live in fear of being forcibly brought back under the total control of the jihadist regime, and having the Sharia imposed on them.

The government of Israel has warned Damascus that it must not touch the Druze, for they are now under the protection of the IDF. The Alawites during Assad’s time were taught that “the Zionists” were “bloodthirsty murderers.” Apparently, few believed it, because now, in their perilous situation, some Alawites are calling on those same “Zionists” to protect them, in the same way that Israel has declared the Druze to now be under their protection. It won’t happen. The Druze in Syria, however, are right on Israel’s border, and there are only 600,000 to protect. The Alawites’ stronghold is Latakia, two hundred and fifty miles from Israel, and there are three million Alawites who would need protection — both that distance, and those numbers, would make protecting the Alawites a much more difficult task than protecting the Druze. Besides, the Israelis have long had a close relationship with their own Druze, who along with Jews are the only group in Israel required to serve in the IDF — so sure is Israel of their loyalty — and some Druze have even risen to become IDF generals.

Bradley Martin has made the case for Israel taking over military control of the Druze territories in Syria so as to better protect them from the jihadist regime. More of his argument can be found here.

…Western leaders are looking favorably toward al-Jolani’s government. [Al-Jolani is a nom de guerre; his real name is Ahmed al-Sharaa]In January, the foreign ministers of Germany and France visited the country to express their willingness to engage with al-Jolani This followed a “very productive” visit by Barbara Leaf—the top Middle East diplomat in the U.S. State Department—who told reporters that al-Jolani was committed to the creation of an inclusive Syrian government that respected the rights of minorities. Leaf also announced that the U.S. removed the $10 million bounty on the former terrorist leader’s head.

Barbara Leaf may be America’s “top diplomat” on the Middle East, but she remains far too trusting in believing Al-Sharaa’s promise to create a government that “respects the lives of minorities.” We have now seen, in the massacres in Latakia of Alawites and Christians, how empty that promise is.

The Israelis are clearly trying to extend their influence among the Druze in Syria, using Israeli Druze as reliable go-betweens. Israel has just declared that Syrian Druze may now enter Israel to work, receiving wages many times more what they could make at home. It would not be surprising if — as Syria’s government tries ever more violently to crack down on minorities as it has just done with Alawites in Latakia — the Druze in Syria were to ask to become part of Israel. There would be little the Syrian regime could do to stop it, for it is in no position to challenge Israel militarily. For both Israel and the Druze, such a development would be a good outcome. The Druze would have security. They would also serve in the IDF. Israelis would expand their sovereign territory. bringing them even closer to Damascus. And those who describe Israel as committing “genocide” would have a hard time explaining why the Druze, a non-Jewish Middle Eastern people, are so eager to become part of that supposedly “genocidal” state.