Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a conference with members of the Druze community on Thursday, delivering an unequivocal pledge that Israel will act decisively to safeguard the Druze and emphasizing his profound personal commitment to their safety. In a major disclosure, Netanyahu revealed that he spoke directly with Syrian transitional leader Ahmed al-Sharaa following the slaughter of Druze civilians in Damascus—and that his terse, forceful warning brought the killings to an immediate halt. “I picked up the phone to al-Sharaa. It was a very short, very sharp conversation, and the massacre stopped,” the prime minister recounted. “I will do whatever is necessary to protect our brothers—your brothers and our brothers. We will not allow such a massacre to continue.”
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Netanyahu went on to highlight retaliatory military actions carried out by Israel in Damascus to establish deterrence: “We took down the defense ministry in Damascus. Just like that, poof, gone. We took out a wing inside the presidential palace compound.” He stressed that critical work remains ahead, particularly regarding returning displaced Druze to their ancestral villages: “I cannot disclose everything, but this commitment comes from the absolute depths of my soul.”
The 2025 Massacres Against the Druze Community
The massacres perpetrated against the Druze population in Syria throughout 2025 encompassed widespread extrajudicial executions, unlawful killings, and war crimes carried out by forces subordinate to the Syrian transitional government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, alongside allied Sunni Bedouin militias.
The violence erupted in two primary waves: the first across April and May in the suburbs of Damascus, centered primarily in Jaramana and Sahnaya, and a second, far deadlier assault in July throughout the southern governorate of As-Suwayda, historically known as Jabal al-Druze (the Mountain of the Druze). Hundreds of individuals, including numerous civilian families, were killed during the July escalation, amid widespread reports of kidnappings targeting women and children.
The atrocities triggered profound shock throughout the Druze community in Israel, sparking mass protests, attempts by Israeli Druze citizens to breach the border fence to aid their brethren in Syria, and the mobilization of emergency civil command centers to dispatch humanitarian relief. At the same time, public and security pressure mounted on the Israeli government to intervene decisively. Prime Minister Netanyahu engaged Syrian authorities to halt the bloodshed. At the same time, Israeli forces launched targeted strikes against Damascus regime assets, including the defense ministry headquarters, in direct response to the atrocities.