Fiery protests broke out Tuesday on several major roads in northern Israel, as members of Israel’s Druze community rallied in support of their coreligionists in Syria after regime forces entered the Druze-majority city of Sweida, sparking fears of inter-ethnic violence.
Protesters demanded that the international community intervene to protect Syria’s Druze minority from Islamist fighters loyal to the regime, amid rampant concern they could be subjected to deadly violence.
The demonstrations came as Israeli planes bombed Syrian government forces rolling into Sweida following days of deadly clashes between Druze fighters and Bedouin clans thought to be aligned with the country’s Sunni leadership. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the attacks were meant to ensure the demilitarization of southern Syria as well as to protect the Druze, who are viewed as potential allies.
In Israel, police said that Route 6 near Elyakim Junction was closed to traffic in both directions as a result of the demonstrations.
Other small protests were reported near Shfaram and Rameh in the upper Galilee.
Videos posted to social media showed demonstrators burning tires and waving Druze flags.
Police said in a statement that it would allow the protests so long as they remained lawful.
“We will not allow events that harm public safety or could bring disruptions of public order,” it said.
The drivers were asked to take alternative routes.
מחאות באזור הצפון של בני העדה הדרוזית • המשטרה: כביש 6 נחסם לשני הכיוונים באזור מחלף אליקים@Yael_Hadad97
תיעוד: דוברות המשטרה pic.twitter.com/kXa51XID84— גלצ (@GLZRadio) July 15, 2025
Around 150,000 Druze live in northern Israel and the Golan Heights, according to Central Bureau of Statistics figures. Many Druze, especially in the Golan Heights, continue to maintain close links with communities in Syria, where some 700,000 Druze live.
Druze men are the only Israeli minority, apart from members of the small Circassian community, to be conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces.
On Tuesday, the Association of Druze Discharged Soldiers and Reservists penned a letter to Netanyahu urging him to provide military and humanitarian assistance in defense of their Syrian compatriots, who are suffering “brutal attacks by extremist terror organizations.”
“There is an unending series of massacres, kidnappings, looting, and harm to innocent civilians — women, children, and the elderly alike,” the group said.
The fighting that erupted in Sweida Sunday has underscored the challenges facing interim Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, whose Islamist forces ousted president Bashar al-Assad in December after nearly 14 years of civil war. Though he has been welcomed by the West, there are fears that religious minorities, including the Druze, could be persecuted under his rule.
דרוזים ישראלים מפגינים באזור שפרעם במחאה על האירועים האלימים נגד הדרוזים הסורים באל – סווידא
— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) July 15, 2025
Druze communities in Syria generally stayed loyal to Assad during the civil war. That has bolstered fears that they could fall victim to revenge-seekers loyal to the new regime, with some pointing to massacres of Syrian Alawites who backed Assad earlier this year.
“Israel is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria due to the deep brotherly alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel, and their familial and historical ties to the Druze in Syria, and we are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them, and to ensure the demilitarization of the area adjacent to our border with Syria,” Netanyahu and Katz said in a statement.
The IDF said Tuesday that it struck “several armored vehicles, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, multiple rocket launchers, as well as access routes” belonging to Syrian regime forces, to “disrupt their arrival” in Sweida.
