Israel bombs Syrian forces after sectarian violence targets Syria's Druze population.

 

Government fighters entering Suwedia Syria. BBC/Reuters.

Israel has bombed Syrian military forces after sectarian violence broke out against the country's Druze population. BBC. 200 people had been killed after fighting broke out between Druze militias and local Bedouin tribes. The fighting occurred after a Druze merchant was robbed on the highway near Suweida. The Druze responded by deploying their militia, which has remained independent of Syria's new government, ruled by a former al-Qaeda affiliate. The Druze have not trusted the government due to their different religious beliefs, despite promises that the government would protect them. The Syrian regime deployed troops to the area and the Druze accused them of abuses, including robbery and arson. In response, Israel bombed tanks and other targets operated by the Syrian regime. It is unclear if fighting will continue as multiple cease-fires have been reported. 

My Comment:

As expected the situation in Syria is not going well. The Druze were better off under the former Assad Regime as they were more tolerant than the current regime, which is essentially al-Qaeda, despite their protests otherwise. It is not surprising that violence has broken out again, as this is not the first time we have seen sectarian violence since the fall of Assad. 

It does sound like the Druze might deserve some of the blame here too though. Deploying their militia to target the Bedouin tribes in the area because some merchant got robbed, against people that may have had nothing to do with it, seems like a huge overreaction and violence is a predictable result. I understand that they might be trigger happy given the circumstances, I know I would be, but it still seems like this was avoidable. 

As for Israel, I'm kind of suspicious of their angle here. They may or may not care about the Druze but I think the real reason they are supporting them is that they would rather have them in control of the region than the Syrian government, who they obviously don't trust. The Druze aren't generally pro-Israel, rather preferring neutrality between Israel and it's enemies, but I think it's an "enemy of my enemy" situation for Israel. 

The last thing Israel wants is the Syrian government de facto allowing Israel's enemies to attack them like the old Syria regime did. As long as the Druze are in control of the Suweida region, which is fairly close to the border area of Israel, they don't have to worry about it any attacks from Iran backed militias, or at least those attacks would be a lot less likely. I think this is just pragmatism for the Israelis. 

As for the Syrians, I don't know if this was a deliberate attack, of just and example of the government being week. The troops were sent in to stop the fighting but they looted, robbed and burned instead. That could be because that the Syrian government wanted that to happen, but I am guessing it's because the former al-Nusra (now HTS) fighters are a poorly disciplined rabble of terrorists and killers, who the government probably doesn't fully control. That doesn't excuse anything, but it might be an explanation if the Syrian government wasn't on board with these attacks.  

For now it looks like saner heads have prevailed. Supposedly there is a cease fire but the article was confusing about that and by the time you are reading this it may have fallen apart. But at the very least there has been a break in the fighting and the Syrian government has apparently brought things under control. 

America's reaction to this has been interesting. The Trump administration has reset the relationship with Syria, removing the leadership from the state sponsor of terrorism list and has asked Israel to stop these strikes. It's another example of our interests not really matching up with Israel. It will be interesting how this plays out, if there are major strikes against the Druze I expect that we would very quickly see ourselves back on the side of Israel.