SyriaIsrael urges U.S. to send military aid to Druze in Syria
Israel has asked the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, who was visiting Israel last week, to help persuade the White House to rush aid to the Druze in Syria, where the retreat of the pro-government forces and the collapse of the Syrian army have exposed the Druze to attacks by both moderate Sunni rebels and Islamic State militants. Israel said it would be willing to extend humanitarian aid to the residents of Khadr, near the Israeli border, but that intervention to assist the Druze in the Jabal al-Druze region, deeper in Syrian territory, was not in the cards because it would amount to an intervention in the Syrian civil war. About 450,000 of Syria’s 700,000 Druze live in the Jabal al-Druze area.
Israel has asked the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, who was visiting Israel last week, to help persuade the White House to rush aid to the Druze in Syria, where the retreat of the pro-government forces and the collapse of the Syrian army have exposed the Druze to attacks by both moderate Sunni rebels and Islamic State militants.
Leaders of the Druze community in Israel – some of them current and former senior military commanders in the IDF — made urgent appeal to the Israeli government and military to consider intervening on behalf of the Druze to prevent what could develop into a human catastrophe similar to those inflicted on the Yezidis and other minority groups in Iraq.
Haaretz reports that after intense consultation, Israel’s political and military leadership told the leaders of Israel’s Druze that Israel would be willing to extend humanitarian aid to the residents of Khadr, near the Israeli border, but that intervention to assist the Druze in the Jabal al-Druze region, deeper in Syrian territory, was not in the cards because it would amount to an intervention in the Syrian civil war.
Ayoub Kara, an Israeli Druze who is a member of the Knesset from Likud, and who serves as deputy minister of regional cooperation, said that “It is important to emphasize that we are working in this context as a [ethnic] community, not as the government of Israel,” he said, adding that “all assistance that will be given [to Syria’s Druze] will be by fellow Druze, and I know that the Druze of Syria know how to defend themselves.”
Kara also criticized statements made on Friday by Wald Jumblatt, the leader of Lebanon’s Druze community, called on him to send soldiers to Syria, saying: “Jumblatt has the option of sending troops, since the border is open. We [in Israel] cannot do that, and it’s preferable that he acts instead of just talking.”
Jumblatt said on Friday that Syria’s Druze population did not intend to ask Israel for assistance. “We don’t need [Bashar] Assad or Israel,” said Jumblatt, during a press conference in Beirut. “Both sides are speaking in sectarian terms, which only perpetuates sectarianism and divides the country” (see “Syrian Druze facing uncertain future,” HSNW, 12 June 2015).
