Julis, Israel: Around 600 volunteers, and donations from within the Druze community in northern Israel have ensured humanitarian and logistical support to nearly 600,000 community members living in the Suwayda governorate in Syria.
The Druze in Syria, specifically in the Suwayda province, are facing a “siege”, according to Akram Mansour, the head of the emergency response team set up by the Druze in the Israeli village of Julis.
“We are roughly 600 volunteers working day and night to provide support to our families in Syria… we have been able to do so through donations from within the community, as well as small organisations across Israel,” Mansour explained in an interaction with the media in the village of Julis in north-eastern Israel.
“Since 13 July (2025), the Druze in Suwayda have faced attacks by forces in Syria wearing ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) name patches. At least 36 villages have been attacked, and we do not know what has happened to the Druze community living in those villages.”
Between 12 July, 2025, and 19 July, 2025, government forces, Bedouins (nomadic Arab tribes) and the Druze clashed in the province of Suwayda in southern Syria.
The Druze, a community of roughly 1.5 million people, are found primarily in the Levantine region, with around one million people in Syria, another 200,000 and more in Lebanon and around 154,000 in northern Israel and the Occupied Golan Heights.
On 19 July, 2025, the new Syrian government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa declared in place a ceasefire, brokered by the US and other Arab countries in the Suwayda governorate. However, within the week, at least a thousand Druze were killed, according to Mansour.
Since the violence first broke out in July 2025, Mansour believes that at least 2,500 Druze have been killed, with the status of their community members in the 36 villages hit by Syrian security forces “unknown”.
Israel struck Damascus, Deraa and Suwayda provinces on 16 July, 2025, with Tel Aviv announcing its intention to protect the Druze community in Syria. The heavy fighting between the Bedouins, the Druze and government forces in July 2025 saw all sides accuse the other of atrocities.
“This is not the first attack against minorities in Syria. The Yazidis, the Kurds, the Alawites and finally the Druze have all faced massacres since al-Jolani (as al-Sharaa is also known) came to power in December 2024,” said Mansour.
The head of the emergency response team pointed out different kinds of atrocities, highlighting a video that was circulating last year showing that at least one individual wearing medical garb in the Suwayda National Hospital was shot and killed on 16 July, 2025, while many others were forced to kneel at the entryway to the hospital. The footage shared by Mansour has been verified by The New York Times.
“The only international country to stand up for the Druze is Israel. As a community of 154,000 in Israel, we (the Druze) are collecting funds and gathering aid to support our 600,000 community members in Suwayda,” said Mansour.
He added that roughly $100,000 is spent every month to purchase humanitarian aid such as food, drinking water, blankets for the winter, and fuel, which is then transported to Suwayda.
The province is land-locked, around 81 kilometres from the Occupied Golan Heights. Between the Israeli position and the Suwayda governorate lies the Daraa governorate, which in the past reportedly housed ISIL fighters, and the militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was led by al-Sharaa.
While declining to explain the exact logistics of moving the aid across borders, Mansour highlights that the Jordanian border to the south of Suwayda is closed, making the efforts of continued support to the Druze in southern Syria complicated.
“The community needs around 120 tonnes of food per day, 18,500 cubic metres of water and around 160,000 litres of fuel to ensure basic daily needs in Suwayda. Currently, there is around 35% shortage of water and around 40% fuel shortage in Suwayda,” said Mansour.
The 600 volunteers part of the Druze emergency centre in northern Israel collect funds for humanitarian aid and work out logistics for the same, while also operating an open source intelligence team to document all alleged atrocities occurring in the Suwayda province.
The Druze in Israel have helped fund the establishment of two hospitals in the Suwayda governorate as well as in sending medicines to the province. At least 50 heavily injured Druze were brought to Israel for medical support, said Mansour.
The Druze have held a complicated relationship with the Syrian state. For years, they were protected by the presidency of Bashar al-Assad and had shown some support to the Ba’athist government while it was in power. The Druze maintained limited autonomy over the Suwayda province. However, that agreement came under threat with al-Sharaa’s victory in the Syrian civil war.
While the community maintained a wait and watch approach, violence broke out in March and April 2025 across Syria. The Alawites, from which the al-Assad family hailed and maintained strong support, were massacred in March 2025. A month later, nearly 200 Druze were reported killed in Jaramana.
The violence in July 2025 was of a much larger scale and further created tensions across communities within Syria.
“Even a few days ago, at least two Druze (members) were killed in Suwayda. There is a blockade preventing the people from leaving and from support to go in,” asserted Mansour.
The situation is such that the 154,000 Druze in Israel are now “supporting” the upkeep of 600,000 lives in Syria, he added.
The reporter is in Israel at the invitation of the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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