Washington Signals Thaw with Syria; Druze in Israel and Syria Sound the Alarm

“It all started with this audio clip—someone claimed it was a Druze sheikh insulting the Prophet Muhammad,” says Ghassan Hamed, a 23-year-old Druze student at Homs University in Western Syria, describing violence that erupted late last month. “Whether it was real or fake, it spread like wildfire. And that’s when the violence started.”

The Druze, a small but enduring religious minority with roots in Islam and a distinct theology, are scattered across Syria, Lebanon and Israel. In Israel, around 140,000 Druze live mainly in the Galilee and Golan Heights—the latter a territory captured from Syria during the 1967 war. Syria’s Druze population, estimated at 700,000, is concentrated around the city of Suwayda in southern Syria and in suburbs south of Damascus such as Sahnaya and nearby Ashrafiyat Sahnaya.

For decades, the Druze maintained uneasy ties with the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad and kept Islamist factions operating in the area at bay. After Assad was run out of power and out of the country last December by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS; an offshoot of al-Qaeda), HTS leader Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa became Syria’s president. For the Druze in Syria, security has eroded, especially since April 27, when the clip went viral on social media. 

“Suddenly, Druze students were being attacked in their dorms,” Hamed recalls. “In Homs, they were beaten, their rooms broken into. Same thing in Damascus. People organized around targeting them.”

Families pulled students back to majority-Druze areas—Suwayda, Jaramana, Sahnaya. But the violence followed.

“Then came the attack on Jaramana,” says Hamed. “Gunmen—nobody knows exactly who they were—tried to storm the city. Local people fought back. There were casualties on both sides. When that failed, the attackers moved toward Dahiya. And the crazy part? This all happened in plain sight of Syrian government forces…They didn’t stop it.”

Gangs of Sunni Islamist youth and former HTS fighters struck checkpoints in Nasser City that had been set up by a combination of forces dispatched by the new government and local Druze militia from the Rijal al-Karama movement. Rijal al-Karama is a community self-defense group  that defends Druze areas. Despite the joint presence, Hamed says the checkpoints were overrun in two days.

“If the international community mistakes superficial gestures for reform, we risk abandoning the Druze to the very system that has long targeted them.”

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 100 people were killed between April 28 and 30 in clashes involving Druze fighters and Sunni Islamist militias. As fighting escalated, regime forces reentered Ashrafiyat Sahnaya on May 1. But according to Hamed, their arrival only deepened the crisis.

“They raided homes, made arrests, even executed people,” he says. “The regime’s media claimed they saved the day. But we all saw what really happened—sectarian violence, plain and simple.”

Before that, Hamed says, Laith al-Balous, a prominent Druze militia commander, met with regime officials. “A lot of people say he helped facilitate the regime’s entry into the city—and betrayed the Druze.”

Hamed, who has since dropped out of school, says the violence pushed people to flee—again. “We ran to Suwayda, Jaramana, even Mount Hermon. And now they tell us to come back? No way. There’s no state protection. We’re on our own.”

His account aligns with that of Nadia Ghanem, a 20-year-old pharmacy student from the same town.

“The Syrian state doesn’t speak for me—and it definitely doesn’t protect me,” she says. “The whole system runs on sectarian violence and incitement. We’ve been told we’ll be slaughtered if we show up to class. I’ve seen the videos. I have the screenshots.”

Despite a new cabinet and constitutional promises from Syria’s transitional government, Ghanem says repression has only intensified. “This regime claims to protect minorities, but it does nothing. It parades a fake image of inclusion for the West. But inside Syria? They attack us, humiliate us, silence us.”

Since the new government took power, she adds, she’s heard claims that more than 5,500 people from minority groups—Druze, Alawite, Christian—have been killed. “Every minority in Syria is living under a cloud of fear right now.”

The latest wave of violence unfolded just weeks before U.S. President Donald Trump, during a high-profile visit to Riyadh, announced plans to lift sanctions on Syria and pledged economic support. Framing the moves as part of a broader Middle East realignment, Trump argued Syria “deserves a chance to prosper.” 

Yet minority advocates say the violence casts doubt on these prospects. They point to Syria’s failure to control armed factions—especially those aligned with former jihadist networks like HTS.

Against this backdrop, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Rev. Johnnie Moore, founder of the Congress of Christian Leaders, are preparing to visit Damascus at the invitation of the Syrian foreign minister.

“If you’re sitting in Damascus right now and want to show you’re serious about reform, protecting the Druze isn’t optional—it’s non-negotiable,” Cooper told Moment by phone from Jerusalem.

While the Cooper-Moore trip is not government sponsored, it follows Trump’s May 13 meeting at the Riyadh summit with President Ahmed al-Sharaa. That encounter marked the first meeting between the leaders of the United States and Syria in 25 years. Trump pledged to lift all sanctions on Syria and urged President al-Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords and normalize ties with Israel. Al-Sharaa reportedly expressed conditional support, signaling openness under the right terms.

Still, optics of pluralism promoted abroad clash with grim realities at home. 

In early March 2025, more than 1,000 Alawite civilians were killed in Latakia, Tartus and parts of Hama—areas that once formed the heartland of the Assad regime and its Ba’athist power base—following coordinated Islamist raids and mass executions in villages left exposed after the fall of the government. While the targets were ostensibly figures who commanded Alawite militias, innocent civilians were also killed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that security forces executed 52 Alawites in Latakia, with additional reports of entire families being massacred in other regions.

Rights monitors documented raids and mass executions by Islamist factions, while state media remained silent. Widespread dissatisfaction has since erupted over the transitional government’s tepid inquiry commission into the Tartus massacres, which many see as a political smokescreen rather than a serious investigation.

“These killings raised the most basic question,” says Mohammad al-Jabi, a political analyst from eastern Syria with Druze roots. “Can Syria’s transitional government deliver real reform while allowing this kind of violence to go unchecked?”

Al-Jabi warns that symbolic gestures—cabinet reshuffles, constitutional revisions, photo ops with clerics—shouldn’t be mistaken for systemic change. “There’s a shift in tone, and that’s new. But let’s not fool ourselves—the real power structures haven’t changed.”

He’s equally skeptical of indirect Israel talks and the planned visit by Cooper and Moore. “Symbolically, sure—it sends a message. But rights aren’t about receptions and reassurances. They’re about protection. If Washington treats photo ops as progress, we’re all in trouble.”

[Q&A: “Rabbi Abraham Cooper to Visit Damascus as Trump Says He’ll Lift Sanctions on Syria”]

Since taking office, al-Sharaa has acknowledged indirect contacts with Israel, framing them within Syria’s commitment to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement. But Al-Jabi says that any real dialogue must begin with demands for Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

“This looks like outside pressure,” he says. “Without addressing Golan sovereignty, you’re just reinforcing inequality.”

This sentiment resonates among many Syrians, who see the Golan issue as central to national identity. 

Eman Safady, an Israeli Druze journalist and analyst who frequently appears on Israeli television news channels, closely follows the situation of Druze communities across the region. A graduate of Harvard University’s program in Communication and Media Studies and Haifa University’s master’s program in national security and maritime strategy, Safady is widely recognized for her ability to connect grassroots concerns with broader geopolitical dynamics.

“Many Druze citizens in Israel are deeply concerned and emotionally invested in what’s happening to our Druze brothers and sisters in Syria,” she says. “There is a shared sense of pain and helplessness as we witness villages being threatened and communities destabilized. The connection is more than cultural—it is familial, spiritual and historical.”

She explains that the greatest fears among Israeli Druze stem from the growing vulnerability of their Syrian counterparts: the threat of forced conscription, a lack of international protection and what she describes as “the feeling that their voice is being silenced by both regional powers and global indifference.”

Safady calls on the Israeli government to raise the Druze issue in global forums, ensure humanitarian aid is delivered through independent channels, and engage with international actors to deter aggression against minority communities.

“At the very least, Israel must send a clear message, symbolically and politically, that the Druze are not alone,” she says.

As Washington reconsiders its Syria policy, Safady stresses that the United States must attach clear conditions to any normalization process. “Any step toward normalization should be conditional on guarantees, with mechanisms to monitor and enforce them. Symbolic gestures are not enough.”Those guarantees, she says, must include protection and autonomy for minority groups such as the Druze, Kurds and Christians.

“The real test of Damascus’s intentions,” Safady concludes, “is whether the regime is willing to acknowledge minority leadership, allow communities to manage their own affairs, and shield them from forced military service or persecution. If the Syrian government is serious, it will guarantee cultural autonomy, safety and the right of communities like the Druze to live without fear.”

While Safady lays out a vision for minority autonomy within Syria, events on the ground have already drawn Israel into the fray—transforming principle into action through military strikes and cross-border aid.

“We will not allow the extreme Islamic regime in Syria to harm the Druze. If the regime harms the Druze, it will be struck by us,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a March statement. “We are committed to our Druze brothers in Israel to do everything to prevent harm to their Druze brothers in Syria, and we will take all the steps required to maintain their safety.”

In response to the violence triggered by the unsubstantiated audio clip, the Israeli military carried out a series of targeted airstrikes near Damascus, focusing on militia positions reportedly involved in attacks on Druze areas. On April 30, a drone strike targeted a group believed to be preparing to attack Druze populations, followed by another on May 2 that killed a Syrian security officer and injured others.

Later that day, Israeli jets struck near the presidential palace in Damascus, signaling Israel’s willingness to act in the face of the growing unrest. The IDF also evacuated over 30 wounded Syrian Druze civilians to hospitals in Israel, reflecting Israel’s commitment to providing medical assistance across the border. 

In these tight-knit communities the conflict across the border is viewed with a mix of anger and skepticism. Some residents support Israel’s airstrikes near Druze areas in Syria as a show of deterrence; others worry they only raise the risk of escalation without improving safety.

Despite decades of military service and civic participation, Israel’s Druze population continues to face structural inequality. The 2018 Nation-State Law—which downgraded Arabic and omitted any reference to equality—sparked protests and deepened long-standing grievances, reinforcing a sense of second-class status.

A sense of vulnerability had already taken hold before the October 7, 2023, attacks. That August, a quadruple murder in Abu Snan (in the Northern District)—which included the killing of 53-year-old former Border Police officer and mayoral candidate Ghazi Sa’ab—shook the community. A Shin Bet investigation uncovered links to organized crime, stoking fears that even the most loyal citizens are not truly protected.

Yet the contrast with neighboring Syria remains stark. Israeli Druze live under the rule of law, with access to courts, political representation and basic security—however flawed—while their Syrian kin face militia rule, regime impunity and state collapse.

Natanya Muradchai, a Syrian Jewish exile in Oslo, sees the Druze as a community caught between worlds—and between governments. “They could be a bridge between Syria and Israel,” she says. “But only if they survive this moment.”

She warns that the Cooper-Moore visit could be used to launder the regime’s image. “Yes, the visit matters. But we need to be clear-eyed. The Syrian regime hasn’t changed its core ideology. It’s still rooted in hostility and repression.”

“If the international community mistakes superficial gestures for reform,” she adds, “we risk abandoning the Druze to the very system that has long targeted them.”

Top image: Main checkpoint at the entrance to Ashrafiyat Sahnaya on May 13, 2025. A young man waves at the camera after passing through an iron arch painted in Syrian national colors, as armed General Security forces—under the authority of Syria’s Ministry of Interior and the al-Sharaa-led transitional government—conduct vehicle inspections. The town remains tense but quiet following two weeks of deadly unrest. (Photo by Ahmed Qwaider)