Israel on Wednesday threatened to increase its attacks on Syria unless the government withdrew its forces from the country’s south, where there have been deadly clashes between Druze and Bedouin tribes.
Defence Minister Israel Katz called on Damascus to “leave the Druze in Sweida alone” after troops were sent to the region to quell the several days of unrest.
“As we have made clear and warned, Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarisation policy we have decided on,” he said in a statement.
Syrian forces should withdraw, he added, and promised no let-up in Israeli military attacks until that happened, saying Israel would “raise the level of responses against the regime if the message is not understood”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of Damascus’s Islamist-led government near its territory.
The head of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, on Wednesday called the situation “an existential battle for the Druze community”.
Israel’s military announced on Tuesday that it had struck military vehicles belonging to government forces in the Sweida area of southern Syria following the clashes.
According to witnesses, Druze armed groups and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, government forces took part in fighting alongside the Bedouin against the Druze.
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© Agence France-Presse
