Middle East
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar addresses a press conference after a meeting at the EU headquarters on the sidelines of the EU's foreign affairs council, in Brussels on February 24, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP)
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday urged Syria’s new rulers to respect minority rights, including those of the Druze, Kurds and Alawites.
“Israel has strong ties with the Druze, we also have a Druze minority here in Israel. It is important that the new rulers in Damascus respect the rights of minorities, including the Druze,” Saar said during a press conference.
The international community has expressed concern that the new Islamist authorities in Damascus may impose strict Islamic rule in Syria, threatening the country’s minority groups such as Kurds, Druze, Christians, and Alawites.
The Kurdish-controlled northeast (Rojava) and the Druze in southern Syria have been firm in demanding decentralization in post-Bashar al-Assad Syria, despite Damascus rejecting federalism and at times calling it a “red line.”
In Syria’s southern Druze-majority Suwayda province, both armed and political factions have refused to disband their forces.
Meanwhile, thousands of Alawites in December took to the streets in several parts of Syria following the circulation of a video purportedly showing an attack on an Alawite shrine in the country’s north, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported. Members of the Alawite community, who are followers of the same sect as the ousted president Assad, now live in fear of potential retaliation.
Saar also questioned the legitimacy of the new government in Damascus, arguing that it was not elected by the Syrian people.
“It is a bunch of jihadists that previously controlled [Syria's northwestern] Idlib [province] and forcefully seized other parts including Damascus,” the Israeli official stated, adding that that “doesn't mean there have a right to initiate hostilities against minorities whether be it the Druze, the Kurds, or the Alawites.”
The Coordinator of the Association of Secular Democratic Syrians, Samir Azzam, told Rudaw in February that the current government in Damascus is a de facto authority representing a single Sunni group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is classified as a terrorist organization.
HTS led the rebel coalition that toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime in early December. Its then leader and now Syria’s interim President, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has repeatedly pledged to protect the rights of all Syrians. In December, the rebel coalition, including the HTS, agreed to merge into the Syrian defense ministry.
For its part, Israel has continued to carry out strikes in Syria, targeting military assets, weapons depots, and strategic installations, rejecting calls for withdrawal while maintaining its operations against what it says are perceived threats in the region.
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