Daily Alert Archives

The Forgotten Slaughter of Syria's Druze - and Israel's Moral Response

(X) Maj. (ret.) John Spencer - This past week, a brutal campaign of violence has unfolded in southern Syria. Hundreds of Druze civilians (a minority community indigenous to the Levant) have been murdered, kidnapped, or forced to flee their homes. Villages have been burned. Women and children were reportedly slaughtered in sacred sites where they had sought refuge. The perpetrators include radical Islamist militants, Bedouin gangs, and regime-backed elements. These are not vague reports or unverifiable claims. There is footage of Druze civilians being hunted down and executed. Women are stripped and assaulted. Men are beaten, tortured, and forced to leap from rooftops as militants cheer. It is a special kind of evil. Deliberate. Performative. Proud. All of it is shared online for the enjoyment of the killers. These images are a visceral reminder of the savagery unleashed by Hamas on Oct. 7. The same evil. The same joy in human suffering. The violence is not collateral damage from a larger conflict. It is direct, targeted, and deliberate. It is ethnic and religious cleansing in broad daylight. The Israeli Druze community has played a prominent role in every aspect of Israeli society. I have personally met Druze commanders serving in the Israel Defense Forces during my visits to Gaza. They are courageous, respected, and integrated. The ties between Israeli and Syrian Druze are real and deeply personal. Israel's response has included airstrikes against Syrian regime military positions both south of Damascus and within the capital itself. These strikes reportedly targeted forces involved in the attacks on Druze civilians. When a close-knit, historically loyal minority community within Israel cries out to the Jewish state for help as its kin are massacred just across the border, Israel does not turn away. This is about moral clarity. It is about responding to evil when others stay silent. It is about understanding that the same ideologies that fuel the murder of Druze families in Sweida are no different from those that drove the slaughter of Israelis on Oct. 7. While the international community hesitates, while human rights organizations say little, Israel has stepped forward. When others calculate political risks, Israel sees human lives. When others look away, Israel acts. The same institutions and voices that claim to champion human rights have gone quiet. There have been no emergency UN sessions. No international protests. No outcry. It is a silence that reveals the selective morality of those who only speak when it fits their politics. It is a silence that enables genocide. The writer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point.
2025-07-20 00:00:00
Full Article