In the southwestern Syrian town of Sweida recent bloody clashes between Bedouin Arabs and the Druze have left at least 200 dead. Syria’s military was dispatched to stop the fighting, but it struggled to quell the violence and some reported that government forces escalated the carnage. Many Syrian Druze believe that the central government, led by former rebel-turned-president Ahmed al-Sharaa, is tied to the very groups attacking them.
Israel agrees: it has accused the Syrian government of attacking the Druze and using Arab militias as cover. The Israeli Air Force has spent the last two days striking Syrian military positions in Syria’s southwest, with the Jerusalem Post reporting that 160 “aerial attacks” had been conducted as of midday on 16 July. Israel also bombed the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters and areas near the presidential palace in Damascus.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because Israel conducted a similar operation in May following another round of violence between Druze and Arabs in Jaramana and Sahnaya (both Damascus suburbs) as well as in Sweida, which left 100 dead. On that occasion, Israel conducted 20 airstrikes across Syria and hit multiple targets, including sites close to the presidential palace.
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