Psychologist and lecturer at the University of Haifa Dr Sawsan Kheir says Israel is the “only country” in the world helping the Druze community.

Syria should not be allowed back into the international community unless it is able to uphold protections for the Druze and its other minority groups, Israel has said.

“The Israeli Druze are now trying to use that and urge the Israeli government to protect fellow Druze in Syria,” he said, explaining, in part, the justification for Israel’s strikes on Syria, where the Druze community has traditionally been anti-Israel, even as some leaders grow closer to Israel.

Amid the escalating tensions between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes in Syria’s Suweida province, the country has now been attacked with fresh airstrikes launched by Israel. Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has blamed Israel for inciting the violence.

Israel bombed the Syrian capital of Damascus on Wednesday, targeting the defence ministry and military facilities in a warning to the Syrian government. A US-brokered truce was reestablished shortly after but remains fragile.