Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Sunday reiterated his country’s resolve to protect Syria’s Druze and Circassian communities as the newly-established jihadist regime in Damascus allegedly carries out widespread massacres of ethnic minorities in the civil war-ravaged nation.
Defense Minister Katz offered to allow non-Muslim Druze and non-Arab Muslim Circassians, largely residing in southern Syria, to enter Israel on work permits in the Golan Heights, Israeli media reported.
“The government just approved an unprecedented aid program for the Druze and Circassian communities in Israel led by Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Finance Minister,” the Israeli defense minister said Sunday. “Soon, we will also allow Druze laborers from Syria to come work in the Golan Heights communities in Israel,” he added.
Israel to Allow Syrian Druze, Others to Work in Golan as Jihadist Regime Allegedly Massacres Minorities
The Israeli offer comes as civilian deaths in Syria crossed 700 since the clashes began four days ago. Jihadist fighters under the orders of Syria’s self-designated ‘interim’ leader, Ahmed al Shara — also known as ‘al Jolani’ — are reportedly on a killing spree in the nation’s western provinces, inhabited predominantly by the Alawite Muslims, who traditionally sympathize with the country’s deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Videos on social media appear to suggest that Christians and other non-Muslim minorities are also being targeted by Syria’s ruling jihadist forces.
“Some 745 civilians were killed, mostly in massacres, as well as 148 pro-Assad fighters and 125 people from security forces, according to the British-based SOHR [Syrian Observatory for Human Rights],” Sky News (UK) reported.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday publicly confirmed recent reports that Israel will undertake the radical move of allowing Syrian Druze and Circassians to cross into the Israeli side of the Golan for work purposes.The unusual move of allowing foreign citizens of a hostile state like Syria to work in Israel could have geopolitical ripples across the region and is a testament to how radically the Middle East has changed even just in the last few months.Until December 7-8, Syria was run by the Assad regime, which while it kept a ceasefire with Israel since 1974, was formally in a state of war with the Jewish state and which was a critical link in the chain of Iranian efforts to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah.Assad’s Syria also presented a direct threat to Syria from Iranian militias who might invade and from the Syrian military’s air force, long-range missiles, and chemical weapons.The Syrian Druze were a minority in the Assad era who mostly kept to themselves, with some past positive history with Israel, especially Israel’s Druze community, but still mostly treated Jerusalem as a hostile party.
Last week, Katz warned Syria’s jihadist regime not “to harm the Druze,” disclosing the military has been ordered, “to prepare and to send a firm and clear warning: if the regime harms the Druze, it will suffer the consequences.”
“Earlier in the month, Katz and Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the IDF to prepare to defend the Druze village of Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, due to attacks by the government forces on the area,” the Israeli news website Arutz Sheva reported Sunday. “In a strong declaration, Netanyahu and Katz made clear that Israel would not allow harm to the Druze in Syria.”
“We will not allow the terrorist regime of radical Islam in Syria to harm the Druze. If the regime harms the Druze, it will be harmed by us.” The Israeli defense minister said in a similar statement last week.
The Israeli warning to the new regime is highly credible since the IDF secured a buffer zone in southern Syria weeks after the fall of Assad, giving it added capabilities to hit the Islamic regime targets in the capital Damascus, and elsewhere in the country,
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