Why Israel is conducting strikes in Syria as sectarian violence rages

Australia Broadcast Center

6 days ago

Just over six months since the downfall of Syria's long-time leader, Bashar al-Assad, the country's fragile post-war order is on the brink.
The country is deeply divided as it tries to emerge from decades of dictatorship and nearly 14 years of civil war.
In recent days, Israel has carried out strikes within Syria amid clashes between various factions.
The strikes came in response to clashes between a religious minority sect, the Druze, another group known as the Bedouin tribes, and Syrian government forces.
Dozens of people have so far been killed.
Here's what you need to know about the conflict and what it means for the survival of Syria's new government.
Syria is currently led by a transitional government, established after the Assad family's decades-long rule over the country collapsed in December last year.
Before then, the country had been torn apart by 14 years of civil war between forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad and those who wanted to oust him.
But under the Assad family's tight rule, religious freedom was guaranteed as the country then boasted about its secular and Arab nationalist system.
However, the new transitional government is more Islamist in nature, with President Ahmad al-Sharaa himself a former member of Al Qaeda.
Among the groups now navigating a vastly changed landscape in Syria is the Druze religious sect.
The Druze began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam, and more than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria.
In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south.
The transitional government has promised protections and to include the Druze in decision-making, but so far, only one of the 23 members of the government is Druze.
The Druze have been divided over how to deal with their issues with the new status quo in the country.
Many Druze support a dialogue with the government, while others want a more confrontational approach.
The latest violence began when members of another group, the Bedouin tribe in Sweida province, set up a checkpoint and then attacked and robbed a Druze man.
This led to tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings between the two sides.
Government security forces deployed to the area to restore order, but were seen as taking the side of the Bedouin tribes against Druze factions.
The clashes raise fears of another spiral of sectarian violence that has flared already since the ejection of Assad.
In March, sectarian and revenge attacks between Assad loyalists and government security forces killed hundreds of civilians.
There have also been rising tensions between authorities in Damascus and Kurdish-led authorities controlling the country's north-east.
The most recent clashes between the Druze and Bedouin have captured the attention of neighbouring Israel.
Israel does not want Islamic militants near the country's northern border.
Since Assad's fall, Israeli forces have seized control of a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone in Syria near the border with the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and have carried out hundreds of air strikes on military sites.
Israel has periodically intervened in support of the Druze, who are seen within Israel as a loyal minority.
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday announced it had struck military tanks in southern Syria on Monday to help the Druze.
That was followed by further Israeli strikes on Syrian government forces on Tuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said the strikes hit "regime forces" and weaponry brought to Sweida to be used against the Druze.
"Israel is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria due to the deep brotherhood alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel," the pair said in a statement.
"We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them and to ensure the demilitarisation of the area adjacent to our border with Syria."
Syrian Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra says a ceasefire between the government, the Bedouin and the Druze remains in place.
The Druze spiritual leadership said in a written statement on Tuesday morning that it would allow Syrian forces to enter Sweida city to stop the bloodshed, calling on armed groups to surrender their weapons and cooperate with incoming troops.
But hours later, influential Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, a vocal opponent of the new Syrian leadership, said the statement had been "imposed" on them by Damascus and that Syrian troops had breached the arrangement by continuing to fire on residents.
Dozens of people have been killed in fighting in the region since Sunday.
ABC/AP