Israel and Syria Agree to Ceasefire: US Envoy Confirms

Israel and Syria Agree to Ceasefire: On a Friday announcement, the United States stated that Israel has accepted to cease fire with Syria following days of bloodshed in the Druze majority region of Sweida that has claimed over 300 human lives.

Wednesday also saw Israel question Damascus airstrikes (also attacking the Syrian government forces in the south) and insisting that it was doing so in order to defend Syrian Druze a small, yet powerful minority of which also has members in Lebanon and in Israel.

Ambassador Tom Barrack an American envoy to Turkey on Syria mentioned in a post on the X platform that Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and President Ahmed Al Sharaa of Syria supported by the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio accepted a ceasefire that was welcomed by Turkey, Jordan and other unspecified neighbours.

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On Saturday an immediate ceasefire was announced in the Sweida province by the office of Al-Sharaa after the interior ministry forces were deployed there following the Druze majority population.

The presidency urged the parties to “fully respect the truce”.

Speaking in another speech, al-Sharaa said that there had been mediation of Arab and American, which had aided in restoring calm, and condemned Israel airstrikes towards government forces in the south and Damascus throughout the week.

He attributed rekindling of the conflict to action by “armed groups in Sweida province” which he called retaliatory attacks against the Bedouins and their families. He also said Israeli intervention “pushed the country into a dangerous phase."

Al-Sharaa asked everybody to stay calm and that Syria would not be the guinea pig of some partition, secession, or sectarian incitement.

Israel has not even verified the ceasefire and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar issued a statement condemning Sharaa as glorifying the Bedouins, who perpetrated the attacks and laying blame on the victims, who were Druze.

“Bottom line: In al-Shara’s Syria, it is very dangerous to be a member of a minority—Kurd, Druze, Alawite, or Christian. This has been proven time and again over the past six months,” Sa’ar said.

“The international community has a duty to ensure the security and rights of the minorities in Syria and to condition Syria’s renewed acceptance into the family of nations on their protection,” he said.

This has been announced following fresh fires that have broken out between Druze communities and Bedouin tribes that left more than 200 people dead and 40,000 others displaced in a deteriorating humanitarian crisis.

The Syrian presidency declared late on Friday that a force will be stationed in the south whose mission is to put an end to the clashes, in collaboration with the political and security efforts of stabilizing the situation and avoiding the revival of violence.

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In Israel, the IDF reported that about 2 dozens of Druze, who live in Israel, broke the border and entered Syria early Saturday, where some of them acted violently against Israeli soldiers. They joined a bigger party of Druze who went to the border in the northern town of Golan Heights, Majdal Shams. The military reported that the forces and Border Police attempted to disperse the violent crowd.

According to the IDF, it does not take violence against its troops and those of the security forces lightly nor does it tolerate trespassing across its border to Syria as this amounts to criminal activity and poses a threat to the citizens and even the IDF soldiers.

The military asserted that troops have been working to re-establish their ground to bring the civilians back to Israel.

The government of Damascus sent in its forces earlier this week in an attempt to put a stop what is happening but according to reports it was as a result of the violation they committed on a large scale against the Druze that the Israeli forces sent bombings.

Israel had several times indicated that it would not permit Syrian troops into the south of the country though on Friday it said it would extend a temporary period to enable Syria to end recurrent fighting there.

Noting that the new rulers in Syria were little more than disguised jihadists, Israel has promised to protect the Druze population of the region, at the urging of Israel Druze minority.

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