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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">How the US and Israel partnered with Syria\u2019s new president to massacre the Druze</h1><p class="gmail-">Through
a calculated campaign of sectarian slaughter in Suwayda, Syria\u2019s new US
and Israel-backed president advanced a broader strategy to drive the
Druze toward Israeli protection and fragment Syria\u2019s territorial
integrity.</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/the-cradles-syria-correspondent-113" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">The Cradle's Syria Correspondent</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span style="color:rgb(84,88,94)">JUL 27, 2025 -<font size="1"> </font></span><font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/how-the-us-and-israel-partnered-with-syrias-new-president-to-massacre-the-druze">https://thecradle.co/articles/how-the-us-and-israel-partnered-with-syrias-new-president-to-massacre-the-druze</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/611de7b8-6b06-11f0-ae42-00163e02c055.jpeg" alt="" width="467" height="221" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>Photo Credit: The Cradle</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span class="gmail-article-body"><p>As
video after video of horrendous atrocities spreads on social media from
the governorate of Suwayda in Syria, evidence indicates that the Syrian
government\u2019s sectarian slaughter of the Druze religious minority was
orchestrated by the US and Israel.</p><p>The massacres are part of a
broader effort to force the Druze to seek protection from Israel and
thereby give the Jewish state a pretext to further occupy Syria\u2019s south,
establish <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/davids-corridor-israels-shadow-project-to-redraw-the-levant">David\u2019s Corridor</a>, and keep the country weak and divided. </p><p>Syrian president Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former ISIS commander long <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/31177">groomed</a> by the US and UK to take power in Damascus, proved a reliable agent in executing the plan.</p><p><strong>A campaign to crush the Druze</strong></p><p>The violence in Suwayda <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/world/middle-east/syria-clashes-druze-militias-sunni-bedouin-clans-dead-rcna218596">began</a>
on Sunday 13 July, when local Bedouins kidnapped a Druze fruit seller
on the road between Suwayda and Damascus. The situation quickly
escalated with clashes breaking out between Bedouin militias and armed
Druze factions. </p><p>On Tuesday 15 July<strong>, </strong>Sharaa <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/13/several-dead-in-clashes-in-predominantly-druze-syrian-city">ordered</a>
the Syrian army and internal security forces to deploy to the region,
under the pretext of halting the clashes and restoring security and
civil peace.</p><p>However, rather than seek to stop the fighting, Sharaa\u2019s forces <a href="https://x.com/SyJusticeArc/status/1946104985038606708">joined</a> Bedouin armed groups. <a href="https://x.com/joshua_landis/status/1944745675742224755">Saying</a>
that they \u201ccame to fight the Druze,\u201d Syrian forces carried out the
brutal massacre of hundreds of Druze civilians, attacked Druze cultural
symbols, and systematically looted and burned Druze homes.</p><p>\u201cOn
Tuesday morning, units from Syria\u2019s Ministries of Defense and Interior
stormed into the city of Suwayda, citing efforts to halt an outbreak of
communal violence. Instead, what followed was a blood-soaked
escalation,\u201d <i>Media Line</i> <a href="https://themedialine.org/top-stories/as-suwayda-bleeds-again-field-executions-and-bloody-clashes-between-druze-and-bedouins-under-international-watch/">reported</a>.</p><p>\u201cThe violence worsened sharply after the arrival of government forces,\u201d journalists from <i>Reuters </i>similarly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/bodies-looted-homes-syrias-druze-reeling-after-Suwayda-bloodshed-2025-07-17/">wrote</a>, while citing Suwayda residents who<i> </i>said the killings were carried out by Syrian troops, \u201cidentified by their fatigues and the insignia on them.\u201d</p><p>Government supporters also acknowledged Sharaa\u2019s security forces were sent to participate in the slaughter, rather than end it.</p><p>Former
Nusra Front leader, Saleh al-Hamwi, criticized Sharaa for claiming his
forces intervened to break up clashes between Druze \u201coutlaw groups\u201d and
the Bedouins.</p><p>\u201cThis is not true,\u201d Hamwi <a href="https://x.com/asseraaalsham/status/1946488684041101637">wrote</a>
on X. \u201cThe authority entered with its army and security forces as a
party against the militias of [Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri].\u201d</p><p><strong>Sectarian massacres</strong></p><p>Thousands
of reports, pictures, and videos have now circulated online showing
Druze civilians being executed, beheaded, kidnapped, and humiliated by
government and tribal fighters.</p><p>Videos and photos of government and tribal fighters humiliating captured Druze men by <a href="https://x.com/HoshangHesen/status/1945248452260053386">shaving off</a> their traditional moustaches and murdering them soon gave way to even more shocking videos. Syrian forces filmed themselves <a href="https://x.com/SyJusticeArc/status/1946860741652582464">cutting off</a> the <a href="https://t.me/Syrdoc/4472">heads of corpses</a> with knives, executing unarmed Druze men in the street after <a href="https://x.com/BrotherRasheed/status/1947113750386938246">demanding</a> to know their religion, massacring <a href="https://x.com/SyJusticeArc/status/1945788468883578922">entire families</a> in <a href="https://x.com/Ostensiblay/status/1946601723860066417">their homes</a>, and <a href="https://x.com/SyrDemObs/status/1946504292745069029">abducting</a> women to take as slaves.</p><p>One man was <a href="https://x.com/SyJusticeArc/status/1946862130143322368">strapped</a> to a chair and burned alive, while another man was killed along with his family as he sat in his wheelchair at home.</p><p>A shocking video <a href="https://x.com/ajaltamimi/status/1945104635682791896">spread online</a> of the corpses of 15 unarmed Druze in the guesthouse of the prominent Al-Radwan family. </p><p>Maan Radwan, whose relatives were killed in the shooting, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/18/its-impossible-to-tell-who-is-killing-us-four-days-of-violence-end-with-hundreds-dead-in-southern-syria">told</a> the<i> Guardian</i>,
\u201cThey were sitting there drinking coffee when gunmen came in and just
started shooting. There are no weapons allowed in the hall, it\u2019s not
like it\u2019s a military base.\u201d</p><p>Video emerged showing dozens of bodies of Druze who had been <a href="https://x.com/joshua_landis/status/1945555281825411328">massacred</a> in the National Hospital in Suwayda city. </p><p>Palestinian journalist Wael Essam, who covered the 14-year war on Syria for <i>Al-Quds al-Arabi</i>, <a href="https://x.com/WaelEssam77/status/1945666163637174523">reported</a>
that, according to sources with the Syrian government, the massacre was
carried out by members of a government-linked faction, Ansar al-Tawhid
(Division 82), against wounded Druze militiamen and accompanying
civilians. </p><p><strong>Israel \u2018intervenes\u2019</strong></p><p>Claiming to
defend the Druze, Israel intervened dramatically on Wednesday 16 July
by bombing government buildings in the heart of Damascus, including the
Ministry of Defense and near the Presidential Palace. </p><p>The first bomb hit its target during a live news broadcast filmed in a TV studio overlooking Umayyad Square. </p><p>Israel also bombed Syrian tanks that were dispatched to Suwayda. </p><p><strong>Sharaa mobilizes the tribes</strong></p><p>Despite
the Israeli intervention, some 500 Druze had been killed in Suwayda
city by the morning of Thursday, 17 July alone, most of them civilians
killed in their homes, <i>Al-Daraj</i> <a href="https://daraj.media/en/tribal-invasion-structure-mobilization-and-relationship-with-the-authorities-in-the-suwayda-attack/">reported</a>.</p><p><i>Al-Daraj</i>
notes that despite this, a media campaign was launched to claim it was
the Druze who were guilty of carrying out massacres. The campaign
included the spread of fabricated photos allegedly showing Druze
atrocities against local Bedouins.</p><p>Almost immediately, formal
Syrian forces were joined in Suwayda by 7,000 to 10,000 Arab fighters
from the Al-Oqaydat and Al-Nu\u2019aim tribes, who traveled over 700 miles
from Deir Ezzor, allegedly to take revenge against the Druze, even
though these tribes had no relation to Arab tribes in Suwayda.</p><p><i>Al-Daraj</i>
reports tribal fighters traveled from areas in Deir Ezzor controlled
not only by Sharaa\u2019s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), but also by the
US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The fighters
easily passed through checkpoints controlled by both groups.</p><p>The
mobilization was led by high-ranking members of the Syrian government
from each tribe, including Mohammed Al-Jassim \u201cAbu Amsha,\u201d a prominent
commander in the Ministry of Defense whose forces led the massacres of
Alawite civilians on the Syrian coast in March, Hussein Al-Salameh, the
Syrian Minister of Intelligence, and Youssef Al-Hajr, a prominent leader
in HTS.</p><p>\u201cThe pattern of tribal mobilization, the method of
fighter movement, and their rapid arrival through security and military
checkpoints show that it was not a spontaneous or retaliatory response,
but part of a well-thought-out alternative plan, implemented immediately
after the failure of the first attack on Suwayda,\u201d <i>Al-Daraja</i> concluded.</p><p>While
the SDF, an ally of the US and Israel, allowed the tribal fighters to
pass through their checkpoints, the Israeli air force took no action to
bomb their convoys as they traveled for hours across the open Syrian
desert.</p><p><strong>The US and Israeli role</strong></p><p>Wael Essam also reported that the Syrian government's assault on Suwayda was pre-planned. </p><p>Essam <a href="https://x.com/WaelEssam77/status/1945666163637174523">wrote</a> on
Thursday, 17 July, that \u201cGovernment forces had been preparing to storm
Suwayda for a week, using the Bedouin story as a pretext.\u201d</p><p>Citing
sources within the Syrian government, Essam stated that Mukhtar al-Turki
and Abu al-Hassan al-Urduni were the commanders supervising
preparations for the attack, under the direct supervision of Sharaa.</p><p>Not
only was the assault on Suwayda prepared in advance, but Sharaa and his
military commanders were encouraged to launch it by US officials.</p><p>\u201cThe
security apparatus received false information from sources close to the
Americans that the Israelis would not intervene, no matter what
happened in Suwayda. The Ministry of Defense continued its advance,
contrary to the prior understanding with the Americans and Israelis,\u201d
Wael Essam reported further.</p><p>Sharaa would not have launched the
attack on Suwayda without permission from the US and Israel because
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously vowed to defend the
Druze in Suwayda and demanded that southern Syria remain a
\u201cdemilitarized zone.\u201d</p><p>Additionally, Israel\u2019s bombing of the
Ministry of Defense near Umayyad Square was coordinated with Turkish
intelligence to ensure no important Syrian military officials would be
killed.</p><p>\u201cBefore bombing the General Staff headquarters, the Turks
informed a number of government officials of the need to leave their
positions and evacuate their families from Damascus,\u201d Essam added.</p><p><strong>Sharaa receives a \u2018green light\u2019</strong></p><p>Two days later, additional details emerged indicating the US and Israel had urged Sharaa to attack Suwayda. </p><p>\u201cDamascus
believed it had a green light from both the US and Israel to dispatch
its forces south despite months of Israeli warnings not to do so,\u201d <i>Reuters</i> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-believed-it-had-green-light-us-israel-deploy-troops-sweida-2025-07-19/">reported</a> on 19 July.</p><p>\u201cSyria's
government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to
the country's south this week, encouraged by U.S. messaging that Syria
should be governed as a centralized state,\u201d eight sources familiar with
the matter told <i>Reuters</i>.</p><p><i>Reuters </i>explained further
that the understanding was based on \u201cpublic and private\u201d comments from
US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack, \u201cas well as on nascent
security talks with Israel\u201d in Baku, Azerbaijan.</p><p>It is highly
unlikely, however, that Sharaa and his military staff \u201cmisread\u201d or
\u201cmisunderstood\u201d US and Israeli messaging so badly. As noted by <i>Reuters,</i> Syrian and Israeli officials were in direct communication as part of \u201cnascent security talks\u201d taking place in Azerbaijan.</p><p>The
talks \u201cproduced an understanding over the deployment of troops to
southern Syria to bring Suwayda under government control,\u201d <i>Reuters </i>added,
again indicating that preparations were underway to assault and take
control of Suwayda a week before the attack was launched, and that Druze
conflict with the Bedouins was only a pretext.</p><p>Additionally, Syrian authorities were coordinating directly with their Israeli counterparts when they deployed tanks to Suwayda.</p><p><i>Axios</i> <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/07/16/israel-bomb-syria-trump-response">reported</a> on
Wednesday, 16 July, that according to a US official, \u201cSyria had
notified Israel in advance about the tanks and said its response was not
directed at Israel.\u201d</p><p>Despite this clear coordination, the Israeli
military bombed the tanks, claiming in a statement that they entered a
zone that Israel demanded be demilitarized and that \u201cIsrael will not
allow a massacre of Druze in Syria."</p><p>This explanation is unlikely,
given the close coordination between both sides and Sharaa\u2019s clear
insistence on not fighting occupying Israeli troops.</p><p><strong>Israel gives another \u2018green light\u2019</strong></p><p>Two
days later, on Friday 18 June, as terrified Druze continued to wait in
vain for Israel and the US to intervene and stop the slaughter, Israel
enabled additional massacres by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-syria-agree-ceasefire-israel-allows-syrian-troops-limited-access-sweida-2025-07-18/">announcing</a> it would allow \u201climited entry\u201d of Syrian forces into Suwayda for \u201c48 hours.\u201d</p><p>That night, Sharaa <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-syria-agree-ceasefire-israel-allows-syrian-troops-limited-access-sweida-2025-07-18/">announced</a> he would \u201cdeploy a force in the south dedicated to ending the clashes,\u201d <i>Reuters</i> wrote, repeating the lie that the Syrian president and former ISIS commander was trying to stop the killing. </p><p><i>Reuters</i> repeated the claim, even though it was widely understood, including from <i>Reuters</i>\u2019 own previous reporting, that the fighters from the Ministry of Defense and Internal Security had been leading the massacres.</p><p>The
Israeli green light allowing Syrian government-affiliated forces to
once again enter Suwayda and begin the killing anew was revealed in the
same <i>Reuters</i> report.</p><p>The agency reports that its reporters
observed a convoy of fighters from Syria's General Security, who were
stopped on a road in Deraa province, \u201cawaiting a final green light to
enter Suwayda.\u201d</p><p>\u201cBut thousands of Bedouin fighters were still pouring into Suwayda on Friday, the <i>Reuters </i>reporters said, prompting fears among residents that violence would continue unabated.\u201d</p><p><strong>\u2018Tribal\u2019 fighters?</strong></p><p>The
next morning, Saturday 18 July, a new ceasefire was announced following
meetings between Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri and US, Syrian,
and Jordanian officials in Amman.</p><p>However, a Syrian journalist who visited several villages in Suwayda on Sunday, 19 July, told <i>The Cradle</i>
that Syrian security forces continued to allow Arab tribal fighters and
Bedouin looters to pass their checkpoints to enter Druze villages and
Suwayda city.</p><p>Some of the Arab tribal fighters with whom the
journalist spoke boasted that they were employed by the Ministry of
Defense but were not wearing their uniforms. </p><p>While fighting
informally as part of tribal militias, they used weapons distributed by
the Ministry of Defense, including drones, heavy machine guns, Grad
missiles, and sniper rifles. </p><p>As videos online <a href="https://x.com/SyJusticeArc/status/1947451401384431741">confirm</a>,
he said many wore ISIS patches, the journalist said, including one man
from General Security whom he managed to photograph. They expressed
their admiration for the terror organization\u2019s former leader, Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, and the desire to crush the Druze in the name of Islam.</p><p><strong>What does Israel want?</strong></p><p>Despite
statements by Syrian, Israeli, and US officials claiming they wished to
protect the Druze, we are expected to believe that global powers were
somehow unable to stop Arab and Bedouin tribes from entering Suwayda to
continue the looting and killing.</p><p>In reality, Israel and the
United States not only allowed the sectarian slaughter in Suwayda to
unfold, but directly orchestrated it in coordination with Sharaa.</p><p>Because
the massacres were so horrific, more and more Druze now believe they
have no choice but to turn to Israel, hoping the Jewish state will
protect them from the ISIS-linked forces ruling Damascus.</p><p>The more
the Druze turn to Israel, the more they are perceived as \u201ctraitors\u201d by
many of Syria\u2019s Sunnis, further deepening the country\u2019s sectarian
divide.</p><p>Israel is now positioned to use its claimed \u201cprotection\u201d
of the Druze as a pretext to expand its occupation of southern Syria,
including Suwayda, and to establish the so-called David\u2019s Corridor
linking the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the US military base at
Al-Tanf, to its Kurdish allies in the SDF in northeast Syria, and onward
into Iraq.</p><p>While discussing Israel\u2019s initial green light<i>, Reuters</i> itself <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-believed-it-had-green-light-us-israel-deploy-troops-sweida-2025-07-19/">observed</a> that the massacres of Druze in Suwayda will soon serve long-standing Israeli objectives.</p><p>"With
more blood spilt and distrust of Sharaa's government high among
minorities, there are \u201creal fears that Syria is heading towards being
broken up into statelets,\u201d the agency wrote, citing a senior Gulf
official, which aligned with Israel\u2019s goal to keep Syria \u201cweak and
decentralized.\u201d</p><p>In short, Israel used a classic mafia tactic. Just
like a mob boss who sends his thugs to terrorize a shop owner before
demanding payment for \u201cprotection,\u201d Israel now presents itself as the
savior of a crisis it helped create, using the bloodshed in Suwayda to
legitimize permanent occupation and redraw the map of southern Syria to
its advantage.</p></span></div></div></div></div>
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