Israel Arming, Bankrolling Druze Fighters In Southern Syria

Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com,

With tensions continuing to simmer in Syria’s Suwayda Governorate, senior Druze commanders are reporting that the Israeli government has been arming and financing Druze militias that are seeking a large amount of autonomy over the area.

Suwayda is the historic population center of the Druze minority, and back in July there was a substantial massacre of Druze civilians amid a military crackdown. The Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has vowed to see the entire country under central government control, but after the massacre a lot of the Druze see some measure of autonomy as essential.

Though Israel is engaged in talks with the HTS, they also appear to be keen on undermining their stability, as they are actively invading southwestern Syria, and Suwayda is proximal to that area.

Some 3,000 Druze militia fighters are estimated to be active in the area, and now many are receiving arms and salaries from the Israelis.

The HTS isn’t clear about how they intend to centralize control in the area, but it’s one of several regions they are still trying to enhance their power in, generally those with large amount of religious or ethnic minorities.

Last month, the HTS announced that they were postponing all elections in Suwayda, which will likely limit Druze representation in parliament.

The US and Jordan, which both generally support the idea of Syria remaining contiguous and without substantial autonomy anywhere, reported Tuesday that they have agreed to a “roadmap” on advancing the situation in Suwayda.

They didn’t say what that entailed, but US envoy Tom Barrack offered his typical glowing endorsement of the idea as good for the HTS and therefore good for “all Syrians.“

For many months, the new hardline Sunni regime in Damascus has been engaged in overt ethno-religious cleansing…

SYRIA: thousands of Druze university students are forced to flee Damascus for the Druze-dominated region of Sweida.

In the past weeks, over 700 Druze were massacred.

It’s heartbreaking to see these young Druze abandon their studies due to Islamist threats.

Will Western… pic.twitter.com/2gASmfPo3l

— Dr. Maalouf ‏ (@realMaalouf) May 8, 2025

The Syrian Army, for its part, has been withdrawing heavy weapons from Suwayda. Those weapons were largely deployed in the governorate during the July massacre, and while such redeployments may reduce tensions, it does not appear they have been withdrawing the ground troops they deployed to the area.