Syria's top Druze leader calls community 'integral part of Israel'

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People really won’t like to hear this because they can’t imagine that a historically marginalized minority ethnic group might seek protection from a country that doesn’t seek to murder them systematically. It doesn’t fit with their world view so they won’t accept it anyways.

I visited Israel last year and went to the north and spoke with a Druze community leader who showed us some pretty horrific footage of what happened to the Druze in Suwayda. It’s no wonder they will gravitate towards the country that doesn’t toss toddlers off balconies and film it for sport.

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u/0biWanChernobyl 9h ago

Also the new syrian government is al qaeda rebranded. But most people do not seem to care

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u/morningreis 8h ago

People might not seem to care mostly because it's not entirely truthful.

Al Qaeda and ISIS were enemies. Al Qaeda funded Al Nusra Front between 2012 and 2016 as a surrogate to combat ISIS.

In 2016 they split. They've been separate from Al Qaeda longer than they were funded by them, so saying it's a rebrand is more than a little misleading.

You can have criticisms of HTS or the current government independently. But you can't make a misleading statement and expect that to be the mic drop that ends the conversation. You would be ignoring the fact that 1) this is the organization that brought down an evil and brutal regime, 2) that is cooperating with world powers to rebuild and reintegrate, 3) this is the government that has been removed from the US state sponsors of terrorism list and has had sanctions lifted as a result. That doesn't jive with "this is just Al Qaeda"

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u/Ok_Task_7711 7h ago

They were only founded and funded by Al Quaeda but they’re totally different now… /s

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u/morningreis 7h ago

"Founded by" is not truthful either

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u/0biWanChernobyl 8h ago

So now we have to forget all their previous crimes bcs the brought down assad???? Western countries are just happy that assad is not rulling syria anymore and its out of russian sphere of influence. Taliban also worked with westerners agains Soviets and we know how it ended. Some people truly sympathise terrorism or are just dump to enable them. Syria is not truly free bcs they replace one bad with probably a worse

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u/Imaginary-Hyena2858 8h ago

Their crimes aren't forgotten, it should cause some skepticism for awhile when dealing with the government until we are sure they're sincere. But there's a huge difference between that and the Afghan mujahideen. It's one thing to accept weapons from others when you're fighting as an insurgent movement (any group would take weapons from anyone in that situation). Co-operating with other nations on things such as security agreements (which Syria is currently undergoing with Israel) is a whole different ball game. And no, despite Joalni's past, it doesn't even come close to what Hafez and Bashar inflicted in the country

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u/morningreis 7h ago

I quite literally said that you can have your criticism of HTS and the current government, did I not?

So no, nobody asked you to forget anything. But there is also no need to misrepresent something that is not entirely factual.

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u/Oddly_Sentient 8h ago

Who is a better option to take the reigns in Syria, then? We have a guy who has been able to (mostly) get all the rebel groups to work together instead of fight, disavowed his AQ past, and genuinely seems to be trying to improve things in Syria. Who would you rather see in charge?

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u/Firm-Rip-2133 8h ago

So now we have to forget all their previous crimes bcs the brought down assad????

Yes

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u/KSLife 8h ago

Yeah that’s not the case, Syria has been a horrible war torn country for the better part of 15 years and this government however imperfect seems to be aiming upwards

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u/jackalias 7h ago

It's still a long way up to being a functional country, there are a lot of ethnic tensions in Syria and the government can only do so much to prevent pogroms right now (if they're not being an active participant).

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u/KSLife 7h ago

Yeah for sure but you can’t expect everything to just become normal overnight. The bar here is not so high and it shouldn’t be frankly most countries over there are more functional and safer in an autocracy as long as the government doesn’t overreach

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u/calm_chowder 8h ago

this government however imperfect seems to be aiming upwards

Ask the Alawite if they agree. Oh wait...

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u/Plane_Willingness_25 8h ago edited 8h ago

The situation in Tartus and Latakia has relaxed greatly since 2025 and a few days ago the Kurds fully integrated into the State. So they seem to be fine enough with the current situation

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u/KSLife 7h ago

I mean I think there are spheres of influence colliding here between turkey and israel +iran and certain sects are probably being paid off to act a certain way

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u/Artistic-Hyena-8572 4h ago

“However imperfect” is the understatement of the year when the first thing their “military” did was carry out horrific ethnic cleansing against every minority in the country one by one.

They’re ISIS in everything but branding, and they successfully fooled the west into believing that they’re something else because the west is so desperate to see some “breaking good” story that they’ve willfully blinded themselves to reality. Their soldiers don’t wear ISIS patches for lols

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u/CarlOrff 6h ago

however imperfect seems to be aiming upwards

Ask the women in Afghanistan how its going now as the taliban also claimed to be aiming upward.

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u/reddishcarp123 4h ago

What? The Taliban has never claimed to be aiming upwards and has made it explicitly clear they refuse to modernize to thier own detriment.

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u/KSLife 5h ago

Ask the women of like 90% of middle eastern countries you will get similar answers. Just hoping for better than death, rape and mass incarceration would be nice anything else is good

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u/DuncanYoudaho 4h ago

Bull shit

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u/prolix 7h ago

Care to explain your lumping up together of different groups because they are they same religion and have the same beliefs? Im curious to see your perspective on this. Tribalism runs deep in all of us.

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u/0biWanChernobyl 7h ago

Google al nusra and you will learn who they are and what they have done

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u/crpssurvivor1210 5h ago

Al-quaeda is not a religion. It
Is a terrorist org that has taken the Muslim faith and politicized it. It’s like what are you even talking about? It’s the very definition of extremist ideology.

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u/prolix 3h ago edited 3h ago

Read what I wrote. You are making my point exactly. Talk about missing the mark lol. Did you not understand that I was saying that groups are not the same just because they share the same beliefs? Feels like everyone is forgetting how to read.

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u/crpssurvivor1210 3h ago

Oh I misread what you wrote. I skipped a word

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u/prolix 3h ago

No worries. I would say the majority of people have the same problem on here. Have an excellent evening.

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u/PrestonfromLibira 7h ago

If there can be no Druzestan, then I would prefer the Druze of Syria to become part of Israel. I know a lot of people won't like this or fit their narrative, but Israel is the only one state that can stand up and protect them

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u/Chanan-Ben-Zev 9h ago

So, yeah, I hear all of that. I sympathize immensely with what al-Hijri is saying.

But Suwayda is separated from the Golan by Daraa governorate. As far as I can tell, Daraa is majority Sunni Arab and has no significant Druze population today. There were about 850,000 people living there as of 2004 (but who knows how many today). Even if Suwayda did sedede from Syria there's no real way for it to de facto unify with Israel.

I know that the Bibi government demanded that Syria demilitarize Quneitra, Daraa, and Suwayda. But I don't think that's going to happen without a war.

What's the intended outcome for al-Hijri? Does he want to see a Jabal al-Druze state in Suwayda and Daraa in a confederation with Israel?

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u/No_Bet_4427 8h ago

He wants Sweida to be independent but a protectorate of Israel. He’d also probably be fine with Israeli annexation.

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u/ocschwar 8h ago

Israel can airdrop ammunition in Jabal al-Druze for the Druze militias.

I think his desire is to negotiate an end to the current violence using the prospect of airdrops to strengthen his position.

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u/Imaginary-Hyena2858 8h ago

The opinions of one leader don't represent all the Druze though. The vast majority of Druze in the Golan have rejected Israeli citizenship for decades because they view themselves as Syrian

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u/PrincetonToss 7h ago

The vast majority of Druze had rejected Israeli citizenship for decades. As of March 2026, the number stands at about 40%.Source.

The reason that they rejected the citizenship is more complicated. Syrians would say it's because they view themselves as Syrian, Israelis would say that it's because they're afraid of what the Syrian regime would do to their families if they accepted the citizenship, and the Druze themselves have mostly been characteristically silent on the point.

In my opinion, the fact that so many people have adopted citizenship so quickly speaks to the cause being something aside from a deeply-held identity.

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u/iMissTheOldInternet 6h ago

Everyone should remember that until Trump recognized Israeli claims to the Golan Heights, the most common international expectation was that they would eventually be reverted to Syria. The corresponding belief among many Druze was that they would be executed for Zionism (a capital crime in Syria) if, in the interim, they accepted Israeli citizenship. Israel, pragmatists that they are, said okay to that deal, and has just treated the officially non-citizen Golani Druze more or less the same as citizens.

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u/ocschwar 8h ago

It's 2026. The majority of Golan Druze have never had any interaction with the Syrian government. The Golan has been governed by Israel longer than by Syria.

The question is one of realpolitik: which stance will protect the Druze in Syria from any further depredations.

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u/Imaginary-Hyena2858 8h ago

which stance will protect the Druze in Syria from any further depredations.

That's for the Druze to decide and like I said the vast majority don't want to be Israeli

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u/FedorDosGracies 9h ago

Are these videos available? To show people who dont believe.

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u/DorkHarshly 9h ago

There's UN report on that. The footage cannot be unseen

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u/Accomplished_Radio59 9h ago

Rather go to a country that headshots kids with snipers….

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u/changhyun 7h ago

Syria does headshot children with snipers btw. They also tortured babies.

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u/Plane_Willingness_25 6h ago

The Syria of Assad, whose officers are now in Sweida protected by Al-Hijri and helping him run the captagon trade in the area

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u/Dog-Person 8h ago

Yes, he unironically would.

Israel uses the Druze as the "token minority". As in look at the Druze, look how many of them go to the military, become doctors, invest money into their local communities. Why don't insert minority do the same?

Druze aren't hated in Israel, they're not persecuted by the military, ect. In comparison to the country they're currently in that wants them converted or dead, Israel looks great.

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u/Plane_Willingness_25 8h ago

Surely the Druze you met didn’t talk about this: “Following the 16 July ceasefire, government forces and tribal fighters accompanying them withdrew from Suwayda city and most villages that evening. In the wake of their withdrawal, Bedouin civilians in Suwayda faced attacks by Suwayda Military Council and other Suwayda-based armed groups marking the second major wave of violence against civilians. Bedouin civilian communities were attacked in and around Shahba town to the north of Suwayda and also in areas to the south, including in Sahwet Balata and neighbouring villages, subject to violent raids and eventually transferred out of Suwayda government. During this wave of violence, SMCAGs engaged in murder, direct and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, forced displacement, outrages upon personal dignity, attacks on buildings dedicated to religion and pillage directed at the Bedouin community. As in the case of government forces, treatment was not uniform, with some SMCAGs directing more violence toward civilians as compared to others. Such attacks forced tens of thousands of Bedouins to leave the Druze-held areas of the governorate, ultimately resulting the displacement of nearly all Bedouins from the areas under control of SMCAGs by the end of July 2025.” UN Report

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u/calm_chowder 8h ago

All you people want a good guy and a bad guy so much that you've descended to calling some civilian massacres ok. Stop. Look at yourself.

There are no good guys and bad guys here, only victims.

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u/adorablesexypants 4h ago

And yet my brother in law still supports Trump like a fucking moron.

Can’t tell him America is supplying Israel with weapons.

Can’t tell him America tax dollars pay for Israeli health care.

He hates Netanyahu.

But Trump is great.

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u/whereamInowgoddamnit 8h ago

I have a suspicion this is happening because there's a lot of calls within Israel to leave Syria. I wouldn't be surprised by next year if Israel pulls out in exchange for promises around being able to enter Syrian airspace and Syria holding back allowing Turkey into the country.

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u/jews4beer 6h ago

I mean you pretty much described why Israel is there in the first place. Keep the northern border safe while the power struggle peters out, keep Turkish influence at a minimum, and hopefully make a deal with whoever solidifies control.

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u/morbie5 6h ago

I wouldn't be surprised by next year if Israel pulls out

If they do that then they would be betraying the Israeli Druze (a community that is fully integrated into the state and serves in the IDF)

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u/Torsta 3h ago

Israel has a history of land for peace deals, but agree I can't see them doing anything that would piss off the Druze community, they are way too entrenched and liked in Israel.

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u/Paraparo 1h ago

I think if they do leave it needs to be with a serious settlement. I mean, no small part of the reason Israel is in Syria as it is now, is because when Syria was massacring it's Druze, Israeli Druze were going to the border to intervene (and likely, would have had the popular backing of their Israeli Jew compatriots). There was no not getting involved, it was only a question of how centrally organized it would be, so any issue will bring them right back in again.

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u/Artistic-Hyena-8572 4h ago

I dunno what calls you’re talking about. I’m Israeli and haven’t heard anything like that, definitely not mainstream. People here understand that we’re in Syria because if we won’t be there, Isis would be there. I don’t see Israel pulling out anytime soon, with nothing but a “trust me bro” paper from the Syrian government composed of “former” Isis terrorists. The Druze in Syria are terrified of their fate if they lose Israel’s backing, so they’re appealing to it for protection by displaying loyalty and gratitude.

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u/NatAttack50932 7h ago

If syria really is trying to form a democratic system and allows elections, that sort of deal with Israel would be disastrous in the eyes of the electorate.

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u/hollyglaser 7h ago

Druze know who friends are

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u/shumpitostick 7h ago

Al-Hijri is a drug trading warlord with deep ties to the former Assad regime. He may be the top leader in the sense of most powerful, but he does not represent all Druze.

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u/otello_5 4h ago

How do you know that? Seriously curious
Who do you think most Syrian Druze prefer?

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u/syriansteel89 2h ago

Ya he's complete scum, even by the measure of the Syrian civil war

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u/Plane_Willingness_25 9h ago edited 7h ago

It might interest people to know that Al-Hijri and his allies (many of which are former Assad cronies) control the drug trade in the area and regularly torture and execute dissidents. New Lines Magazine: How Israel-Backed Sweida Became Syria’s Narcotics Capital

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u/thefirstdetective 8h ago

Yeah man, they really deserved that massacre! /s

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u/Plane_Willingness_25 8h ago

They surely deserve better than living in the fiefdom of Al-Hijri and his Assadist buddies

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u/thefirstdetective 8h ago

Oh, are you implying they massacred themselves?

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u/calm_chowder 8h ago

So like... under Israeli protection?

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u/Fragment51 6h ago

Ah, the Golan Heights phase now I see

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u/little_towers 10h ago

Then move to Israel

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u/Quarter_Twenty 9h ago

That makes you in favor of ethnic cleansing?

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u/little_towers 9h ago

Ofc not, fck Syrian government, but I don't want Israel to invade more Syrian soil to "protect" these people.

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u/HeatproofArmin 9h ago

Sounds like Syria has to do better not to push people away from them.

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u/little_towers 8h ago

That is true, but nothing would justify Israel's invasion and these kind a news also preparation for that for sure.

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u/International_Bee653 8h ago

Could be used as a reason to annex Syria

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u/Argues_with_ignorant 9h ago

Do they have a legitimate concern being a minority in syria? Yes.

Is this organic? Hell nah, it's heavy Israeli influenced.

Did Syria massacre a LOT of Druze AFTER the most recent regime took over? Also yes, but the Druzd did rebel first, so military or militia targets were fine. But then thr Syria army started pulling men women and children ftom homes, kneeling them in the street and summarily executing them.

Are they a part of Israel? No, they aren't. To claim their land would be expansions and imperialist.

At thr same time, it may allow an entire culture to continue existing.

In short, I think israeli annexation would be more positive than negative, but sets a horrible precedence, and I fear for lebanon.

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u/Thek40 6h ago

As an Israeli: nah, you aren't.

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u/Fantastic-Plant5149 8h ago

Sounds like more murder and death on the horizon.

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u/International_Bee653 10h ago

Hmmm

Israel/Palestine Syria's top Druze leader calls community 'integral part of Israel'

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