Netanyahu issues policy to demilitarize southern Syria, vows to ‘protect Druze’
JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his government has adopted a clear policy to demilitarize the area stretching from south of the Syrian capital to the Jabal al-Druze region in southern Syria.
“We have set a clear policy: demilitarization of the region south of Damascus – from the Golan Heights to the Jabal al-Druze area. That is our first line,” Netanyahu said in a recorded statement.
“The second line is protecting the Druze in the Jabal al-Druze region,” he said, referring to the mountainous area known as Jabal al-Arab, or Jabal Hauran, which lies in Syria’s Suwayda province and includes dozens of towns and villages at elevations of more than 1,800 meters (5,900 feet).
Netanyahu said the dual-track approach would remain Israel’s policy. “We will not allow military forces to deploy south of Damascus, and we will not allow harm to come to the Druze in Jabal al-Druze,” he stated.
Israel has repeatedly invoked the “protection of the Druze minority” as a justification for military operations in southern Syria, including efforts to create a demilitarized buffer zone along its border.
Leading Druze figures in Syria have consistently rejected those claims, issuing a joint statement condemning foreign intervention and reaffirming their commitment to a unified Syria, rejecting division and separatism.
In the same statement, Netanyahu admitted that the Israeli military had struck Syrian army positions in Suwayda on Wednesday, saying he had added the Syrian Defense Ministry in Damascus as a direct target.
On Wednesday, Israel launched one of its most extensive attacks in recent months, with airstrikes on more than 160 targets across four Syrian provinces: Suwayda, Daraa, Damascus, and its countryside. The strikes hit the General Staff headquarters and the vicinity of the presidential palace in the capital.
Despite the absence of a threat from Syria’s new transitional government, Israel has carried out near-daily air raids in recent months, killing civilians and destroying military sites, equipment and ammunition.
Netanyahu claimed that a ceasefire had since been reached and Syrian forces had withdrawn to Damascus. “That’s important,” he said. “This ceasefire was achieved by force — not through requests or pleas, but by force.”
Israel has occupied most of Syria’s Golan Heights since 1967.
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its presence in the Golan Heights and seized control of the Syrian demilitarized zone.
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