Israel's attack on Syria makes a bad situation much worse

Israel attacked the Syrian army headquarters on Wednesday, ostensibly in defence of Syria’s Druze community. “We are working to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the regime’s gangs,” said Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as smoke rose over the Syrian capital.

It was later confirmed that army general command and the defence ministry were badly damaged. Israel’s strikes have caused widespread alarm in the region and further afield, with the EU calling for Israel to “fully respect Syria’s sovereignty”. The UAE condemned the attacks as a dangerous escalation.

Israel’s broader intervention distorts an already complex picture and was predicated on accusing Syrian authorities of systematic persecution of the Druze. It now appears closely interested in destabilising the Syrian government.

Who are the Druze and why are they being targeted in Syria?

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Recent days have seen deadly clashes between Druze militiamen and Bedouin tribes in southern Syria, which have worsened into large-scale violence centred in the city of Sweida.

On Tuesday, right-wing Israeli minister Amichai Chikli called for Syria’s President Ahmad Al Shara to be “eliminated”. Before the Damascus strikes on the following day, Israel had already hit Syrian military convoys in Sweida, killing one Syrian soldier. By Wednesday evening, the Syrian government said it had agreed a ceasefire with representatives of the Druze community.

The events of the past few days are of grave concern for Syrian authorities, who are trying to unite a country of kaleidoscopic diversity traumatised on a multi-generational level by war.

Some Syrian Druze leaders have resisted attempts by the new government to assert control since the fall of the regime of former president Bashar Al Assad in December.

Part of this is an unwillingness to cede de-facto autonomy gained in the chaos of the war, but part of it is also a hesitation to accept the authority of an administration with deep Islamist roots.

A pattern of assaults against Druze civilians, in particular, poses a major risk of sectarian violence erupting once again in a country that has only just managed to overcome a 14-year civil war. The Druze are not the only minority group who have found themselves attacked. Alawites in northern Syria have faced violence that left more than 1,300 people dead.

In Israel, the government should act as a responsible neighbour to a country embarking on a new chapter – one that Mr Al Shara has repeatedly said involves an end to the Assad-era stance of permanent hostility towards surrounding states. Incitements to violence do not serve the Israeli public, which is already exhausted from fighting several wars. Its government would do well to halt any further intervention. A better path is to stay the course in ongoing dialogue with the Syrian government amid the US administration’s efforts to bring Syria further into the international fold.

Violence was once, not so long ago, a major aspect of life in Syria. But if the new Syria is to succeed, those days must be consigned to history.