The Syrian government announced a ceasefire Tuesday after it intervened to quell the deadliest outburst of sectarian violence since March, clashes that prompted Israeli airstrikes.
The ceasefire, however, looks to be either shaky or nonexistent in practice, with continued reports of heavy clashes. Government troops entered the Druze stronghold of Suwayda on Tuesday, only to be ambushed and driven back in a counterattack by Druze militias led by the Suwayda Military Council. Many government fighters have been killed or captured, drawing further outrage from Damascus.
Open-source intelligence analysts reported that a mass mobilization was declared in all of Syria’s governorates despite the ceasefire. Geolocated videos showed that government forces had been pushed out of most of Suwayda by Druze militiamen by Tuesday evening after entering the city center earlier in the day. The Druze counterattack was helped by significant Israeli airstrikes, which destroyed Syrian tanks, armored vehicles, and other military concentrations.
In a statement, Israeli military officials said they targeted “several armored fighting vehicles consisting of tanks, APCs, and MLRS, as well as access roads, in order to disrupt the convoys’ arrival to the area.”
Suwayda is viewed by many Druze, including those outside of Syria, as their spiritual and national center. Druze in Lebanon and Israel began mass protests, with those in Israel seeking to cross the border to help their fellow Druze. Protesters in Israel burned tires, waved Druze flags, and blocked key roads in Shfaram, Rama, and Upper Galilee, demanding that the Israeli government intervene.
The Druze have a significant community in Israel, 150,000 out of 1 million globally, noted for their strong and close relationship with the Jewish state. Over half of the world’s Druze live in Syria, concentrated in the south. Jerusalem views the Druze in many ways as a model minority, taking the opposite approach of the Palestinians by choosing to cooperate and integrate itself with Israel.
Though the United States favors good relations with Damascus and has been trying to facilitate normalization between Israel and Syria, Jerusalem faces an internal crisis. It faces a fork in the road with normalization, with President Ahmed al Sharaa risking the loyalty of its Druze population.
Druze journalists and activists have escalated their rhetoric, claiming extremist groups working with the government were trying to exterminate the Druze. Israel’s foreign ministry echoed this sentiment, saying massacres were being carried out against the Druze.
“The Syrian army and security forces, together with allied jihadist militias, have once again perpetrated massacres against the Druze minority in southern Syria,” Israel’s foreign ministry posted on X. “These barbaric and inhumane attacks must be stopped immediately. Israel will not hesitate to take necessary measures to protect the Druze minority in Syria if and when required.”
While meeting with ultra-Orthodox soldiers on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would take whatever measures necessary to ensure its security and the safety of the Druze.
“We have a commitment to preserve the southwestern region of Syria as a demilitarized area on Israel’s border,” he said. “We will not allow a return to the situation where a second Lebanon is being established there; we also have an obligation to safeguard the Druze locals.”
“We are doing that by carrying out intensive operations,” Netanyahu added. “I hope we won’t need further operations, and that very much depends on what is understood and done and what is not done in Damascus.”
A breakdown in the shaky ceasefire could lead to a significant Israeli escalation. Defense sources told Israel’s Channel 14 that “Israel has the choice of a ground invasion on the table.”
When Israel invaded Syria in December 2024 in the aftermath of the fall of former President Bashar Assad, rumors swirled that it could set up a friendly Druze buffer state in the south.
Rumors circulated that Washington had intervened and asked Israel to cease its attacks against southern Syria, to which Israel had agreed, according to Israeli Channel 12. The report was denied by others, including Lebanese Druze politician Wiam Wahhab.
In a statement, U.S. diplomats in Syria said they were “actively engaged with all parties in Syria to achieve calm and continue constructive discussions on ways to achieve integration.”
“The recent clashes in Suwayda raise concern from all sides, and we are striving to reach a peaceful and comprehensive solution that takes into account the interests of the Druze, the Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government, and Israeli forces,” the statement continues.
Syrian government fighters have been known to record videos to post on social media, boasting of their atrocities, a pattern that continued this week. Videos showed government fighters beating bound Druze prisoners, shaving the mustaches of religious leaders as a sign of humiliation, and desecrating corpses. One video showed them running over the bodies of civilians with their vehicles.
Suwayda24, a local Druze outlet, reported that over 20 civilians were executed.
The Druze were not the only minorities targeted by government forces — a caretaker of the Archangel Michael church, north of Suwayda, was vandalized and torched by government forces.
Damascus’s attempts to assure the Druze of their safety have largely fallen on deaf ears. Syrian Defense Ministry spokesman Hassan Abdel-Ghani released a video showing himself in military fatigues, assuring the populace that the army’s intervention was aimed at ensuring their safety.
The display is likely to be seen as less than assuring, as Abdel-Ghani was directly implicated in the mass slaughter of Alawite civilians in March, the last major sectarian breakdown along the coast. A detailed Reuters investigation found that he reacted with apparent glee when informed of the murder of Alawite civilians, replying, “May God reward you.”
The fighting highlights the failure of Damascus to integrate the various anti-Assad militias into a centralized military. It also highlights the tremulous control the government holds over most of the country, with crime and sectarian violence escalating in many areas after Assad’s collapse.
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Though nominally ruling the whole country, the Druze areas of the south represent the area where al Sharaa has his weakest hold on power, with militias holding effective control.
Though tensions have persisted between Damascus and the Druze, the fighting represents the first time Suwayda itself has been consumed by sectarian fighting. The Druze chose to join the rebellion in the final days of the Assad regime, taking over the south bloodlessly. Their defection was viewed as the final nail in the coffin of the former government.