Israel strikes Syria's capital

[Huntsvil]

This really, is Syria be next Palestine?

Israel committed to Israeli Druze that they would protect Syrian Druze sometime last year. They were ok under Assad but Jolani is a different prospect. There have been attacks on Alawites, Christians and Druze by what are frankly jihadis.

Druze are a well integrated arab minority in Israel, there group is spread across Lebanon, Syria and Israel. some 80% of the men serve in the IDF (many in elite and combat units). I watched a Druze cleric yelling at IDF commanders while they sat and took it on twitter.

Theres a lot of internal pressure to do something to protect Syrian Druze, this is also an internal issue for Israel. Some Druze already broke through the fence between Syria and Israel to try to get to Suweida to help their people, Lebanese soldiers are preventing Druze from leaving through their borders.

It’s complicated because there is some tension between government wanting to centralise and a lot of minorities preferring federalism for obvious reasons. The guy in charge of the Suweida Druze is no angel frankly but the Israel cannot allow attacks on Druze civilians without intervention. The bombing in Damascus was a warning shot to stand down attacks on Suweida.

Theres a lot out there to explain the situation if you are confused.

This question makes no sense. Put simply, the Syrian government is attacking the Druze. Killing, kidnapping and also humiliating them. Apparently they are shaving their mustaches off. Israel is defending them.

By striking the capital of Syria? No, Israel is just trying to destabilise Syria further.

Israel has once again shown that is has no regard for international borders.

There is internal fighting between the Druze and those affiliated with the government. Neither party is particularly innocent here.

The US have been telling Israel to cool. They can't help themselves but to show off with all the bombs they drop like candy.

They hit the MOD to make a point. Withdraw from suweida or we can make this worse.

They were in talks about Syria joining the Abraham Accords but Syria is full of militants, many of them not Syrian at all.

Yeah you are right, let a minority group be wiped out by islamists, thats totes fine. People are screaming for intervention in Gaza to help civilians but Druze civilians should be just fine right?

The only point Israel is making is proving it is the aggressor in the region, that has no regard to the sovereignty of other countries.

OP you should read this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg5z3jqe673o

I think it is actually a really complicated situation and I perhaps wouldn’t look at this as good guys vs bad guys (though the Islamists in my eyes are very bad guys, they definitely enjoy destroying minorities, that really shouldn’t even be questioned, they are religious fanatics).

I just don’t think Jolani is fully in control of all the people he tried to roll into the army. He needs to be able to guarantee the safety of minorities otherwise no-ones going to go for this unified Syria idea.

You should also read this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg5z3jqe673o

How many warning strikes should Israel get for killing and harassing Palestinians in the west bank daily? For arming settlers to kill and harass Palestinians?

He needs to be able to guarantee the safety of minorities otherwise no-ones going to go for this unified Syria idea.

Agreed.

Why does Israel think the best way for them to get involved is to bomb the presidential palace?

That article confirms it, the Druze were attacked by Bedouin arabs and then the government forces turned up and joined in. Did you read it? Of course the Israelis do not want jihadis on their border, nobody does. What the hell do you think would have happened if the Israelis hadn’t intervened? They would have been massacred.

Government forces were shaving the moustaches off Druze men and executing people. There are plenty of videos on-line of what was happening. There was no damn reason for the Bedouins to attack them and no damn reason for government forces to be going around humiliating and killing Druze.

Druze are not known for kicking off with people. They defend themselves yes but they know they are a minority and they don’t start fights.

MSM media are united that Israel is out of line with bombing the capital of Syria. Diplomacy is not their strong point.

To make it clear they need to back off. This is the middle east, the Israelis are a levantine tribe. No-one in that neighbourhood behaves like EU. Projection of strength is the only thing that works and then you can have peace.

This in a nutshell OP

"However, some Druze figures in Syria and Lebanon have accused Israel of stoking sectarian divisions to advance its own expansionist aspirations in the region."

And then you can have peace 🤣

After Israel has finished bombing all of it's neighbours.

Sorry in the region you have Hezbollah, Houthis, Hamas, IRCG, ISIS, Al-Qaeda those are just the big ones, not all the little militias peppered all over Iraq. What makes you think Israel is the only problem here. ISIS were literally setting fire to people.

Syria will reach a normalisation agreement with Israel, it will take a while but this where the middle east is heading. There is a ceasefire, Jolani has expressed his intention to guarantee the safety of the Druze and government forces have withdrawn with security handed back to the Druze (looks like bombing the presidential palace and the MOD works) As I said the head of this particular Druze faction is not an angel and tbh I think he needs to be replaced. But in the great big scheme of things it’s minor, a warning shot has been sent and things will simmer down.

It is ofcourse in Israels interest that the Druze on their border stay in place and stay in control of that area. i would want a buffer between me and the nutters too.

The reality is minority groups fare badly in the middle east wherever they are. No-one in the west much cares about Alawites, Christians , Druze or Kurds.

The US are pushing for normalisation. I don't think Netanyahu or his extremists in government want it. I don't think the extremists in Jolani's government want it either. If you think bombing the capital made the path more likely, then I have a bridge to sell you.

What would you do to stop them killing & humiliating Druze men?

If Israel hadn’t intervened Government forces would have killed more Druze, now the Druze are by all accounts a hardy bunch but they are not as numerous or as well equipped as a government army will be. It is as simple as that. No-one came for the alwaites and a thousand died.

Again complicated because there was an Alwaite militia present BUT this is a country barely out of war. Their army will confront other Syrians like they are a foreign army not like our army would deal with british citizens. They also have no compunction about murdering civilians in cold blood. It is compounded by the fact that their army is full of “reformed extremists” who see anyone who is not a sunni muslim as basically non human.

What do you think Israel's neighbours should do to stop them killing and oppressing Palestinians in the west bank?

Israel should get their own house in order before bombing other countries. Jolani as a fairly new interim president is struggling (as expected) with some of the extreme elements.

Netanyahu as a fairly old president is aiding and abetting the extremist settlers and extremist elements in his government. Which one is worst?

We aren’t talking about Gaza.

We are talking about the Druze. You would have let them massacre an ally?