IDF Brigadier General (res.) Amal As’ad, a prominent member of Israel’s Druze, accused interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday of seeking to “eliminate the Druze” and criticized Israel for seeking peace with Damascus even as regime loyalists massacred Druze in southern Syria’s Sweida.

Syrian government forces entered the majority-Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a ceasefire agreed on with Druze community leaders after clashes with local Bedouin tribes left more than 100 people dead.

However, witnesses reported that the government forces joined with the Bedouin in attacking Druze fighters and civilians in a bloody rampage through the city. In total, the number of dead was said by Wednesday evening to have surpassed 300.

In response to the deadly violence, roughly 1,000 Druze Israelis crossed into Syria from near the Druze Golan Heights city of Majdal Shams on Wednesday, even as Israel launched waves of airstrikes targeting Syria’s military infrastructure.

Speaking to Channel 12, As’ad acknowledged Israeli Druze residents were wrong to rush across the border by the hundreds on Wednesday, but said Israel should have done more to help their community.

“I’m worried for the Druze here in Israel and our relationship with the State of Israel. If [the attacks] don’t end immediately, there will be difficult consequences for what goes on here,” said As’ad.

He described the attacks on Druze in Sweida as being “just like” the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, and alleged that Sharaa’s security forces had “raped 5-year-old girls and slaughtered pregnant women.”

“Just like Israel wants to live here in peace and nobody understood why Iran is attacking it to destroy it, we don’t understand why this punk called Ahmed al-Sharaa wants to destroy the Druze sect,” said As’ad.

He urged Israel to do more, including creating a corridor to allow the elderly, women, and children to escape Sweida, establishing a humanitarian tent city as a refuge for civilians, and allowing Druze youth to fight the Syrian regime.

“Israel said it would do anything to make sure that not a single hair was harmed on a Druze head,” As’ad recalled. “Since then, nothing has been done except threats and statements.”

He dismissed Israel’s strikes on Syrian targets in Sweida, Damascus and elsewhere this week as insignificant, saying he was “sure they convey a very clear message to al-Julani” — Sharaa’s nom de guerre.

Tearing into the interim president, As’ad said that Sharaa, who led the former al-Qaeda affiliate that toppled longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December, was a “terrorist who just yesterday… put on a suit and became a diplomat.”

He surmised Sharaa was “way worse” than slain Hamas and Hezbollah leaders Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah, both of whom were killed by Israel last year.

“Was it possible to make peace with Sinwar? With Nasrallah?” he asked.

‘Do not leave our brothers to be massacred’

As’ad’s sentiments were echoed by Israeli Druze activist Fares Lalawi on Wednesday, who spoke to Channel 12 from within Syria after he crossed the border in an attempt to assist his fellow Druze.

He told the news outlet that he and others like him “came here to protect our brothers, just like Jews have the right to protect Jews in Argentina and the United States.”

He said he and “tens, if not hundreds,” of other Israeli Druze youth were in the Syrian Druze border town of Hader, and intended to go as deep into the country as possible. He declined to say whether he and his friends were armed.

“We’ve been exposed to images of terrorists entering hospitals and murdering children in their hospital beds,” said Lawali, adding that he and his friends would return to Israel “only when we receive notice from Syrian and Israeli leadership that the situation is under control.”

Like As’ad, Lawali said the community had appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others for help in previous instances of sectarian violence, only to receive empty promises.

“Unfortunately, despite their promises, each time we stay at home and watch our brothers get slaughtered. We had nothing to do but get up and take the decision into our own hands,” he said, acknowledging that crossing the border into Syria was illegal.

“If the prime minister asks us not to cross the border, it’s a good opportunity to say back to him, ‘Netanyahu, stick to your promise. Don’t leave our brothers to be massacred in hospitals,” said Lawali.

Around 150,000 Druze live in Israel, most of whom hold Israeli citizenship and serve in the IDF.

However, of the some 23,000 living in the Golan Heights, most do not hold Israeli citizenship and still see themselves as Syrian nationals. They maintain close links with communities in Syria, where some 700,000 Druze live.