Loading ...Israel risks being drawn deeper into the Syria conflict as Islamist militants pose a growing threat to the Druze community on its northern frontier.
Israeli army chief Gadi Eisenkot told a parliamentary panel Tuesday that the military would act if needed to prevent a massacre of Druze on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, whose southern section Israel controls. Druze citizens of Israel are demanding aid for their co-religionists after the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front killed more than 20 in a recent attack.
“I expect Israel to assist the Druze, just like it helps Jews all over the world,” Deputy Minister for Regional Cooperation Ayoub Kara, a Druze lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, said in a phone interview. Kara, who is leading a campaign for Israeli involvement, called for “major humanitarian aid” to be sent immediately.
Israel is officially neutral in Syria’s civil war, though it has reportedly carried out airstrikes inside the country against Hezbollah, the Shiite militia that is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against Nusra and other Sunni groups.
Responding to the Druze plight could open the Jewish state to a stream of refugees. The Israeli military has started preparing for the possibility of establishing a “safe zone” for Syrian Druze on the Golan frontier, Israel Radio said, citing unidentified security officials.