JERUSALEM: Israel’s defense ministry on Saturday said the military has been instructed to prepare to defend a Druze settlement in the suburbs of Damascus, asserting that the minority it has vowed to protect was “under attack” by Syrian forces.
The statement, citing an order from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, follows an Israeli warning last weekend that the forces of neighboring Syria’s new government and the insurgent group that led last year’s ouster of former President Bashar Assad should not enter the area south of Damascus.
Saturday’s statement indicates that Israeli forces could push farther into Syria as its new authorities try to consolidate control after more than a decade of civil war. Israeli forces recently set up posts in a buffer zone and on strategic Mt. Hermon nearby. There have been no major clashes between Israeli troops and Syria’s new forces.
“We will not allow the terrorist regime of radical Islam in Syria to harm the Druze. If the regime harms the Druze, it will be harmed by us,” the statement said.
There was no immediate response from Syria’s government.
The Druze are a religious minority who live in southern Syria and in Israel’s Golan Heights, where they navigate their historically Syrian identity while living under Israeli rule.
Israel’s statement followed the outbreak of unrest Friday in the Druze settlement of Jaramana, when a member of the security forces entered and started shooting in the air, leading to an exchange of fire with local gunmen that left him dead.
On Saturday, gunmen came from the Damascus suburb of Mleiha to Jaramana, where they clashed with Druze gunmen. That left one Druze fighter dead and nine other people wounded, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.
The Israeli warning last Sunday to Syrian forces and Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the main former rebel group, made clear that Israeli forces would stay in parts of southern Syria for an indefinite period.
“We demand the complete demilitarization of southern Syria in the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa and Sweida from the forces of the new regime,” that earlier statement said. “Likewise, we will not tolerate any threat to the Druze community in southern Syria.”
After the fall of Assad in December, Israel seized the UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory. The zone was set up under a 1974 ceasefire agreement. Syria’s new authorities and UN officials have called for Israel to withdraw.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s government has been under pressure to protect Israelis living near border areas in the north as it tries to return residents of the north to their homes.
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Israel’s military is told to prepare to defend a Druze community outside Syria’s capital
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Israel’s military is told to prepare to defend a Druze community outside Syria’s capital
- The Druze are a religious minority who live in southern Syria and in Israel’s Golan Heights, where they navigate their historically Syrian identity while living under Israeli rule
US military transfers first 150 Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq
- Transfer follows Syrian government forces taking control of Al-Hol camp from SDF
- US Central Command says up to 7,000 detainees could be transferred to Iraqi-controlled facilities
AL-HOL, Syria: The US military said Wednesday it has started transferring detainees from the Daesh group being held in northeastern Syria to secure facilities in Iraq.
The move came after Syrian government forces took control of a sprawling camp, housing thousands of mostly women and children, from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, which withdrew as part of a ceasefire. Troops on Monday seized a prison in the northeastern town of Shaddadeh, where some Daesh detainees escaped and many were recaptured, state media reported.
The Kurdish-led SDF still controls more than a dozen detention facilities holding around 9,000 Daesh members.
US Central Command said the first transfer involved 150 Daesh members, who were taken from Syria’s northeastern province of Hassakah to “secure locations” in Iraq. The statement said that up to 7,000 detainees could be transferred to Iraqi-controlled facilities.
“Facilitating the orderly and secure transfer of Daesh detainees is critical to preventing a breakout that would pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. He said the transfer was in coordination with regional partners, including Iraq.
US troops and their partner forces detained more than 300 Daesh operatives in Syria and killed over 20 last year, the US military said. An ambush last month by Daesh militants killed two US soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in Syria.
An Iraqi intelligence general told The Associated Press that an agreement was reached with the US to transfer 7,000 detainees from Syria to Iraq. He said that Iraqi authorities received the first batch of 144 detainees Wednesday night, after which they will be transferred in stages by aircraft to Iraqi prisons.
The general, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the Daesh members who will be transferred to Iraq are of different nationalities. He said they include around 240 Tunisians, in addition to others from countries including Tajikistan and Kazakhstan and some Syrians.
“They will be interrogated and then put on trial. All of them are commanders in Daesh and are considered highly dangerous,” the general said. He added that in previous years, 3,194 Iraqi detainees and 47 French citizens have been transferred to Iraq.
Regional threat despite battle setbacks
The Daesh group was defeated in Iraq in 2017, and in Syria two years later, but the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in both countries. The SDF played a major role in defeating Daesh.
Tom Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, said in a statement on Tuesday that the SDF’s role as the primary anti-Daesh force “has largely expired, as Damascus is now both willing and positioned to take over security responsibilities.”
He added that the “recent developments show the US actively facilitating this transition, rather than prolonging a separate SDF role.”
Syria’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the transfer of detainees, calling it “an important step to strengthen security and stability.”
Earlier on Wednesday, a convoy of armored vehicles with government forces moved into the Al-Hol camp following two weeks of clashes with the SDF, which appeared closer to merging into the Syrian military, in accordance with government demands.
At its peak in 2019, some 73,000 people were living at Al-Hol. Their number has since declined with some countries repatriating their citizens.
The camp is still home to some 24,000, most of them women and children. They include about 14,500 Syrians and nearly 3,000 Iraqis. Some 6,500 others, many of them loyal Daesh supporters who came from around the world to join the extremist group, are separately held in a highly secured section of the camp.
The Syrian government and the SDF announced a new four-day truce on late Tuesday after a previous ceasefire broke down.
The move came after Syrian government forces took control of a sprawling camp, housing thousands of mostly women and children, from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, which withdrew as part of a ceasefire. Troops on Monday seized a prison in the northeastern town of Shaddadeh, where some Daesh detainees escaped and many were recaptured, state media reported.
The Kurdish-led SDF still controls more than a dozen detention facilities holding around 9,000 Daesh members.
US Central Command said the first transfer involved 150 Daesh members, who were taken from Syria’s northeastern province of Hassakah to “secure locations” in Iraq. The statement said that up to 7,000 detainees could be transferred to Iraqi-controlled facilities.
“Facilitating the orderly and secure transfer of Daesh detainees is critical to preventing a breakout that would pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. He said the transfer was in coordination with regional partners, including Iraq.
US troops and their partner forces detained more than 300 Daesh operatives in Syria and killed over 20 last year, the US military said. An ambush last month by Daesh militants killed two US soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in Syria.
An Iraqi intelligence general told The Associated Press that an agreement was reached with the US to transfer 7,000 detainees from Syria to Iraq. He said that Iraqi authorities received the first batch of 144 detainees Wednesday night, after which they will be transferred in stages by aircraft to Iraqi prisons.
The general, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the Daesh members who will be transferred to Iraq are of different nationalities. He said they include around 240 Tunisians, in addition to others from countries including Tajikistan and Kazakhstan and some Syrians.
“They will be interrogated and then put on trial. All of them are commanders in Daesh and are considered highly dangerous,” the general said. He added that in previous years, 3,194 Iraqi detainees and 47 French citizens have been transferred to Iraq.
Regional threat despite battle setbacks
The Daesh group was defeated in Iraq in 2017, and in Syria two years later, but the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in both countries. The SDF played a major role in defeating Daesh.
Tom Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, said in a statement on Tuesday that the SDF’s role as the primary anti-Daesh force “has largely expired, as Damascus is now both willing and positioned to take over security responsibilities.”
He added that the “recent developments show the US actively facilitating this transition, rather than prolonging a separate SDF role.”
Syria’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the transfer of detainees, calling it “an important step to strengthen security and stability.”
Earlier on Wednesday, a convoy of armored vehicles with government forces moved into the Al-Hol camp following two weeks of clashes with the SDF, which appeared closer to merging into the Syrian military, in accordance with government demands.
At its peak in 2019, some 73,000 people were living at Al-Hol. Their number has since declined with some countries repatriating their citizens.
The camp is still home to some 24,000, most of them women and children. They include about 14,500 Syrians and nearly 3,000 Iraqis. Some 6,500 others, many of them loyal Daesh supporters who came from around the world to join the extremist group, are separately held in a highly secured section of the camp.
The Syrian government and the SDF announced a new four-day truce on late Tuesday after a previous ceasefire broke down.
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