Syria said Thursday that it rejects the exploitation of its Druze community in the southern province of Sweida for “Israeli propaganda and electoral purposes,” accusing Tel Aviv of arming an “outlawed militia” in the province.
– The remarks came from a Syrian government official source, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
– “The Druze community in Sweida province has been and will remain an integral and inseparable part of the national fabric of the Syrian Arab Republic,” the source said in response to claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding events in Sweida in July 2025.
– The source said Israel had armed an “outlawed militia” to foment chaos in Sweida and drag the country into a wider war, stressing that Damascus “categorically rejects politicizing the Druze community or dragging it into Israeli propaganda and elections.”
– It called upon the international community, the UN and regional states to fulfill their responsibilities by pressuring Israel to adhere to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and to cease its interference in Syria’s internal affairs.
– The Syrian position follows a claim made by Netanyahu on Thursday during a meeting with members of the Druze community in the town of Yarka in northern Israel that he held a phone call with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa during the events in As-Suwayda in July 2025.
– Netanyahu alleged that the conversation was brief and tense and that his intervention contributed to halting the killings. He also alluded to Israeli strikes that targeted Syrian government positions in Damascus.
– On Sept. 16, 2025, Syria, Jordan and the US agreed on a joint roadmap to resolve the Sweida crisis and stabilize southern Syria during a meeting in Damascus.
– The crisis began in July 2025, when clashes erupted between Druze groups and Bedouin tribes in Sweida.
– The violence subsequently escalated, prompting the intervention of government forces and Israeli airstrikes targeting sites in the province and Damascus.
– On May 31, 1974, Syria and Israel signed the Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria, which established the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) to oversee the ceasefire and the separation zone between the two sides.