Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Druze communities in Syria over the past few weeks, its Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
“In an operation conducted over the past few weeks, 10,000 packages of humanitarian aid were thus far delivered to the Druze community in the battle areas of Syria,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The packages included basic goods like oil, flour, salt and sugar and were mostly delivered to the southern province of Suwayda, it added.
The Druze, an Arab minority present in Syria, Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Lebanon, practise a faith that originated in Islam but which has a distinct identity.
Since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Israel has expanded its occupation of the Golan Heights and said the Syrian army would not be allowed to position itself south of Damascus. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Israel would not allow harm to come to the Druze community in Syria.
Critics have warned that Netanyahu and other Israeli officials are working to sever the Druze community’s Syrian identity in an effort to annex more land in Syria.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said earlier this week that Syrian Druze would be allowed to enter and work in the occupied Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war.
A group of around 100 senior figures from Syria’s Druze are also expected to visit the Golan Heights tomorrow, members of the community said.
READ: Jumblatt urges Syria’s Druze to beware of ‘Israeli plots’