According to a recent report published by the Dor Moria Think Tank, “After the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s rule, Syria no longer anchors an Iran-led “Shiite resistance axis” against Israel. Ankara has filled the vacuum, orchestrating a Sunni axis that treats post-war Syria as a Turkish proxy state. The swift military victory of Abu Muhammad al-Julani’s jihadist coalition (HTS) crystallised this pivot and ignited a bloodbath: first the systematic massacres of coastal Alawite communities, then pogroms throughout Druze villages in Suwayda, with intermittent clashes against Kurdish forces in the north-east.’’
‘’For Israel, the transformation of Syria into a forward staging ground for Turkey poses an immediate strategic dilemma,’’ they continued. “Ankara’s prospective air-defence network—and its alignment with HTS militias—could soon jeopardise Israeli air freedom and the stability of the Golan. A buffer zone is therefore indispensable. Despite the mixed historical record of the classic alliance of minorities, forging a contiguous anti-jihadist belt linking Druze and Kurdish autonomies now represents a security necessity rather than a legacy doctrine.”
Supporting the Druze in Syria is a moral imperative at this time, not just from a security perspective but also for a humanitarian one. A Syrian source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, declared; ‘’There is a shortage of all of the basic needs when you cut off the supplies that makes it worse. A couple of days ago, the jihadists attacked the storage facility for all of the flour, which resulted in a shortage for all of the bakers. They have a problem with the wells. There is no fuel to pump the water from the wells. The jihadists have now taken control of the north-western part of the country, destroying the houses, cutting off the electricity, destroying the wells, and trying to erase any type of settlements. Of course, most of the Druze are no longer there for they were either massacred or fled to the mountains. The regime also declined entry to foreign journalists to the area.”
Rania Dean, an Israeli Druze political activist and founder of the NGO Covenant, stated in an exclusive interview that this Syrian regime is responsible for four massacres, ‘’One is against the Alawites in February and the same month, one against the Druze. Even though the Alawites also did atrocities under Assad, the atrocities against children can never be justified. Hundreds of Druze people in Damascus were butchered, slaughtered and kidnapped around the same time as the Alawite massacre last February. In June, there was one against the Christians on the coast, when people were slaughtered and humiliated because they were not Muslim. And now, there is a massacre against the Druze again.”
She noted that in the Druze areas in recent times: ‘’Thousands have been killed, over 200 publicly executed, religious shrines and symbols were desecrated, over 500 women were raped, over 2,000 are still missing, most of them women and children, while we know that some of them are still kidnapped as hostages. The rest we do not know where they took them.”
According to Dean, ‘’It is basically a death camp in the Druze areas of Syria and a starvation siege, planned and executed by the regime. There is no humanitarian corridor. They are blocking baby formula for children, water, electricity, all food supplies, internet, destroyed all electric towers a few weeks before the massacre, and all of the electricity was cut intentionally as a planned starvation and humanitarian siege. Here there is a starvation siege for over a month, but it is now worse for Israel is barred from dropping humanitarian aid and the king of Jordan is refusing to open a humanitarian corridor for the Druze. The Druze are also facing religious repression. They are forced to say they are Muslim or they will be slaughtered. This is a crime under every international law and no one is talking about it.”
In the wake of the horrific violence that has been implemented against Druze, Christians and Alawites, the Kurds, who presently enjoy autonomy yet are constantly threatened by Turkey and its allies, are also wary of the present regime in Syria. “If minorities such as the Druze, Alawites and Christians are not granted inclusive rights, the Kurds will not give up any of their specific demands either," Mohamed Noureddine, a Beirut-based Middle East professor at the Lebanese University, told DW. "Unless the administration in Damascus establishes a dialogue and adopts a constitution that treats all citizens equally, there will be no stability.”
Dean had harsh words to say to Western governments that seek to work with the present Syrian government; ‘’ I have no expectations of a man, who was at first al Qaeda and the right hand man of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, then became ISIS, then Jabhat al Nusra, then HTS and now he is rebranding himself to fit the Western narrative and to gain as much power and influence as he could to continue executing his one and only goal, which is the shariah law state, where minorities including Israel have no place.’’
She continued; ‘’We have recordings of him when he was wearing the attire of a terrorist, saying loud and clear that after Damascus, Jerusalem is going to be next. If anyone will be fooled that he really had changed, then I invite them to listen and watch hundreds of footages from last week of individuals from the security forces of Syria calling to invade Israel after they are done with the Druze. We see the pattern here. We just need to connect the dots to see that this dreamy theory that the West is trying to hold on to, that we can rid of Iranian proxies if we strengthen the Sunni terrorists, is a wrong calculation that can bring a disaster. For the Shia extremists have funded Hamas the Sunni and now we see Qatar pouring millions to strengthen the regime in Syria. It is very dangerous and complicated and we are falling into the trap to help build this web that will rob us all and take us to the point of no return.”
For his reason, the Dor Moria think tank is advocating that” HTS and allied militias be pushed more than 20 km north of the Israeli frontier; Druze local forces should be entrusted with day-to-day security.’’
They advocate that Israel build an alliance with Kurds and Druze, so that “a continuous buffer from Golan to Latakia” can be established to safeguard Israel’s security from the Sunni axis led by the Syrian government, which has shown itself to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. By creating this buffer, Israel will also be able to protect vulnerable Kurdish and Druze communities from repression while also fighting against radical Islam in a more effective manner.