Israel Sends Aid To Arab Minority Druze Community In Syria

JAKARTA - Israel has sent humanitarian aid to the Druze community in neighboring Syria over the past few weeks.

Israel urged support for Druze after the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December and a change of government leadership now controlled by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

After Assad was ousted, Israel launched a massive airstrike against a Syrian military base and deployed troops to the UN-supervised demilitarized zone in Syria.

"In operations carried out over the past few weeks, 10,000 humanitarian aid packages have so far been delivered to the Druze community in Syrian combat areas," the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.

The packages contain basic items including oil, flour, salt, and sugar, and most are sent to the southern province of Suwayda.

Israel expressed its distrust of the new Syrian government, by describing Ahmed al-Sham's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham movement as a jihadist group. HTS is affiliated with Al Qaeda but later rejected the relationship.

Four sources told Reuters Israel lobbied the United States for Syria to remain weak and decentralized, including by allowing Russia to defend its military base there to counter Turkey's growing influence in the country.

"Europe must play a role in protecting the Syrian minority. Europe must remain vigilant against Turkish policies in the region and its surroundings," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told a joint news conference with his Greek and Cypriot partners in Athens.

This week, Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said Syrian Druze citizens would be allowed to enter and work in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war.

Around 100 senior figures of Druze Syria are expected to visit there on Friday, March 14.

Druze, an Arab minority living in Syria, Israel, Israel's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and Lebanon, carries out beliefs that come from Islam but have different identities.

In Israel, many Druze served in the military, including in the war in Gaza, and some have reached senior rank.