Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday outlined Israel’s two primary strategic goals in Syria as ensuring southern Syria is demilitarized and protecting the Druze religious minority in the same area.

“We have set forth a clear policy: demilitarization of the region to south of Damascus, from the Golan Heights and to the Druze Mountain area. That’s rule number one. Rule number two is protecting the brothers of our brothers, the Druze at the Druze Mountain,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

“Both those rules were broken by the regime in Damascus,” the Israeli premier continued. “The [Syrian] regime sent troops south of Damascus, into the region that has to be demilitarized, and began slaughtering the Druze. That we could not accept in any way, and I therefore directed the IDF [Israel Defense Forces to take action — and take powerful action. The Air Force attacked both the gangs of murderers and the armored vehicles. I added another target, to also attack the Ministry of Defense in Damascus.”

Israel launched powerful airstrikes in Damascus on Wednesday, damaging the defense ministry and hitting near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy Syrian government forces attacking Druze communities in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw.

The strikes came after days of heavy fighting broke out in the predominately Druze city of Sweida, where local Druze fighters clashed with regime forces amid growing tensions and reports of atrocities against civilians.

Clashes between Druze and the Bedouins, a collection of Sunni Muslim farmers who have long-standing frictions with the Druze, earlier this week prompted the Islamist-led Syrian government to send troops to Sweida to quell the fighting, but the violence then escalated.

The Israeli strikes followed appeals from Druze leaders who accused the regime of waging “a war of extermination.”

Druze are followers of a religion that is an offshoot of Islam and spread between Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

Describing Syria’s new rulers as barely disguised jihadists, Israel has consistently vowed to prevent them from deploying forces in southern Syria, which borders northeastern Israel, and pledged to protect the region’s Druze community — motivated in part by appeals from Israel’s own Druze minority.

“We will not allow Syrian army forces to enter the region south of Damascus, and will not allow any harm to the Druze at the Druze Mountain,” Netanyahu said on Thursday.

PM Netanyahu:
“I would like to brief you on what we have done in Syria, and what we are going to do in Syria.
We have set forth a clear policy: demilitarization of the region to south of Damascus, from the Golan Heights and to the Druze Mountain area. https://t.co/PmvHEprmfC pic.twitter.com/36CEpSxIer

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 17, 2025

His statement came after Syrian government officials and Druze leaders announced a renewed ceasefire on Wednesday — a development for which the Israeli premier took credit.

“As a result of that powerful action [the Israeli strikes], a ceasefire came into force, and the Syrian forces retreated back to Damascus. That is important,” Netanyahu said. “This is a ceasefire that was reached through strength. Not by making requests, not by begging — through strength.”

Netanyahu’s statement came after Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa accused Israel of fueling instability in his country.

In a televised speech on Thursday, Sharaa condemned what he described as “Israeli interference disguised as protection for the Druze community” — just hours after the ceasefire took effect and regime forces began withdrawing from the southern province.

“The Israeli entity is trying to turn our land into a theater of chaos,” the Syrian leader said. “Since the regime fell, Israel has sought to dismantle Syria.”

Sharaa said Israel’s airstrikes had only escalated tensions, accusing the Jewish state of targeting both civilian and government infrastructure in an effort to sabotage Syria’s new government and its attempts to restore order.

“Syria is not a testing ground for foreign conspiracies,” Sharaa added. “We, the people of Syria, know who is trying to drag us into war and divide us.”

“They want to ignite a conflict on our soil to split our homeland and spread destruction,” he continued.

In his Thursday speech, Sharaa spoke directly to the Druze community, emphasizing their integral role in the country and affirming the government’s commitment to safeguarding their rights and unity.

“You are an inseparable part of our nation. Syria will never be a place for division or internal strife,” Sharaa said. “Protecting your rights and freedoms is a top priority. We reject any effort to lure you into siding with foreign interests.”

The US-brokered ceasefire announced on Wednesday following a previous attempt that had collapsed, amid mounting international pressure to resolve the conflict.

The newly brokered ceasefire paves the way for Sweida’s full integration into the government, requiring regime forces to withdraw from the southern region and transferring security responsibilities to local Druze fighters.

Sharaa became Syria’s transitional president after leading a rebel campaign that ousted long-time leader Bashar al-Assad, whose brutal and authoritarian Iran-backed rule had strained ties with the Arab world during the nearly 14-year Syrian war.

The collapse of Assad’s regime was the result of an offensive spearheaded by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al Qaeda affiliate.

Despite reservations about the nascent Syrian regime, Israeli officials have expressed interest in establishing formal diplomatic relations with long-standing adversary Syria if certain conditions are met.

The US under President Donald Trump has lifted sanctions on the Syrian government and pushed for the new regime to normalize relations with Israel. US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack recently called for a non-aggression pact between the long-time Middle Eastern foes, saying that he believes peace between Israel and Syria is possible.

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