Israel covertly arms Druze militia in Syria, report says

TEL AVIV

Israel began supplying weapons to Syria’s Druze community only days after Bashar al-Assad was ousted last December, the Washington Post has reported.

Citing more than two dozen current and former Israeli, Western and Arab officials as well as Druze militia leaders, the paper reported that arms transfers peaked in late April before tapering off from August amid concerns over rivalries among Druze factions.

The flow of weapons coincided with Israeli attempts to secure a security arrangement with Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa after his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in May.

U.S. officials have privately urged Israel not to weaken the new regime, arguing that Sharaa’s hostility toward Iran offers a rare chance for cooperation between Damascus and Tel Aviv.

Israel still provides the Druze with defensive gear such as body armor and to pay monthly stipends of $100–$200 to some 3,000 fighters, signaling a desire to use the Druze as a counterweight to Sharaa’s rule, the report said.

Israel, home to around 150,000 Druze, has previously supplied humanitarian aid and carried out strikes to shield Druze populations in southern Syria’s Sweida province amid sectarian violence.

Reuters reported in September that Israel was arming Druze militias following massacres targeting the community.

According to the Washington Post, the first covert airdrop took place on Dec. 17, 2024 — nine days after Assad’s fall — and included 500 rifles, ammunition and body armor for a Druze force known as the Military Council.

Later shipments reportedly included weapons seized from Hamas and Hezbollah fighters, alongside sniper rifles, night-vision gear and machine-gun rounds.

The Military Council emerged over the past year with backing from Israeli Druze figures, who sought a Syrian counterpart to lead the community if the regime collapsed.

To fund operations, an Israeli Druze security figure transferred $24,000 to Shoufi via YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which later added about $500,000 of its own and began training Druze fighters — including women — in northern Syria.

During clashes in Sweida, SDF also provided anti-tank missiles and satellite imagery sourced from Israel, the report said.