JERUSALEM: Israel has warned it will intensify military strikes in Syria unless Damascus withdraws its forces from the southern Sweida region, where violent clashes between Druze and Bedouin tribes have erupted.
Defence Minister Israel Katz demanded Syrian troops stop intervening in the unrest, stating, “Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarisation policy we have decided on.”
Katz emphasised that Israel would escalate its responses if Syria fails to comply, saying, “We will raise the level of responses against the regime if the message is not understood.”
The warning follows Israeli airstrikes on Syrian military vehicles in Sweida after days of fighting involving Druze armed groups and government-backed Bedouin forces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously declared southern Syria must remain demilitarised, rejecting any presence of Damascus’s Islamist-led government near Israeli borders.
Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, leader of Israel’s Druze community, described the conflict as “an existential battle for the Druze community.”
Witnesses and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported government forces joining Bedouin fighters against Druze militias, escalating tensions in the volatile region. – AFP
