After ‘savage massacre of Druze’: Israel & US work to create humanitarian corridor to Syrian Druze – report

The U.S. is working to negotiate an agreement between Israel and Syria to allow the transfer of humanitarian aid to Syria’s Druze community in the southern Suwayda province, the news outlet Axios reported.

The move is intended to repair relations between Israel and Syria, while providing aid for the Druze after the massacre of hundreds of civilians at the hands of Bedouin tribes and government-affiliated Jihadist troops.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that the minorities of the region, like the Jews and the Druze, are the first battle line of Western civilization against “barbarism” during a speech on Wednesday but didn't directly comment on the report.

“It’s not only the savagery of Hamas and the Iranian terror axis. In Syria just a few weeks ago, we stopped the savage massacre of Druze, a non-Islamic sect,” Netanyahu said at a U.S. Independence Day reception hosted by Newsmax.

“These people who hate them, hate us and hate America, and they chant the same thing: Death to America, death to Israel, death to the Jews, death to the heathen. And the Jews happen to be the heathen, the small minority,” the prime minister said.

Like they did in Israel on Oct. 7, Jihadist forces attacked the Druze town of Suwayda and “butchered the men, they raped the women, the nurses, and then shot them. They burnt babies,” Netanyahu said.

In July, a dispute between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes had erupted into a large-scale attack on the majority-Druze city of Suwayda, with hostile forces pouring into the southern province. Amid the fighting, at least 1,000 people were killed, including over 300 Druze civilians who were summarily executed.

Netanyahu described seeing footage of a Druze civilian who had his heart cut out and eaten by “one of these fanatics, these unbelievable savages.”

“This is savagery. This is barbarism. This is what Israel is fighting on behalf of Western civilization,” he concluded.

“We have the capacity to physically defend the Jewish state. But we now have to muster all the forces that seek to defend our common civilization against this mutilation of the truth that threatens our common future.”

Israel conducted dozens of airstrikes on Syrian government forces in support of the Druze, which reportedly angered the U.S.

The Trump administration has sought to integrate Syria into its regional alliance structure by legitimizing the government led by the former wanted terrorist, Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The proposed corridor would run from the Israeli border to the “Druze Mountain,” the mountainous region around the city of Suwayda, which has struggled to receive aid due to continuing tensions and roadblocks.

Several weeks ago, Israel reportedly turned to neighboring Jordan with a request to deliver aid through its territory, but was rebuffed. In the end, Israel airdropped the aid directly in Suwayda.

This was the impetus for Israel to ask the U.S. to broker an agreement for the corridor, Israeli officials told Axios.

According to Axios, the Syrian government told the U.S. it is concerned that a humanitarian corridor connecting Suwayda to Israel could be used by the Druze to smuggle weapons.

The issue is expected to be discussed during a meeting between U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani next week in Paris.

Barrack reportedly already discussed the situation in Suwayda with the Syrian and Jordanian foreign ministers earlier this week.