Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that “we will not allow the Syrian regime to exploit our war against Iran and Hezbollah to harm the Druze. If necessary, we will strike with even greater force”.
Clashes erupted last July in southern Syria between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes.
The Syrian authorities said their forces intervened to stop the clashes, but witnesses and monitors accused them of siding with the Bedouin.
Israel bombed Syria during the violence, saying it was acting to defend the minority group.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting left more than 2,000 people dead, including 789 Druze civilians who were “summarily executed by defence and interior ministry personnel”.
An official fact-finding committee the government later formed said on Tuesday it had documented the killing of 1,760 people.
The committee announced that it had drawn up “a list of suspects from the (Ministries of) Defence and Interior, Druze factions, and civilians – including Bedouins and tribes – for serious crimes and violations”.
After the overthrow of Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in Dec 2024, Israel moved its forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarised zone on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, and has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria as well as regular incursions.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Friday that he was working “to keep Syria away from any conflict,” saying that his government is on good terms “with all neighbouring states regionally, as well as internationally”.