The cynicism behind Israel’s ‘protection’ of Syria’s Druze

The Israeli government’s recent justification for its airstrikes on Syrian territory — citing the protection of the Druze minority — defies logic, morality and credibility. It is a breathtaking display of political insolence, one that insults the global conscience while revealing the darker strategic motives behind Israel’s regional policies. How can a state that has waged one of the most systematic campaigns of dispossession and repression against the Palestinian people now claim to be a champion of minority rights?

This grotesque contradiction is not a mistake — it is a deliberate strategy. By invoking the protection of minorities in Syria, Israel is not just seeking to justify its illegal military actions. It is actively laying the groundwork for a broader, long-standing agenda: the fragmentation of Syria into sectarian and ethnic cantons. This policy, rooted in expansionist ideology and geopolitical calculations, aims to dismantle the remaining strongholds of Arab sovereignty that resist Israeli hegemony in the region.

The idea of dividing Syria into Druze, Alawite, Sunni, Kurdish and Christian enclaves is not new. Israeli think tanks and military planners have floated such visions for decades as part of the so-called Yinon Plan — a strategy to weaken neighboring Arab states by exacerbating internal divisions and rendering them ungovernable. Syria, due to its central role in the Axis of Resistance and its geographic and political proximity to Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, has long been a target of this policy.

It is actively laying the groundwork for a broader agenda: the fragmentation of Syria into sectarian and ethnic cantons. 

Hani Hazaimeh

Israel’s targeting of Syria under the pretext of minority protection, therefore, is not about human rights. It is about fragmentation — turning Syria into a patchwork of mini-states that pose no threat to Israel’s regional ambitions and that can be manipulated or co-opted individually.

Moreover, by presenting itself as the “defender” of certain minorities like the Druze, Israel is attempting to sow distrust and fear among Syrian communities, deepening sectarian fissures and potentially inciting communal conflict. It is a colonial tactic rebranded in a modern setting: divide, destabilize and dominate.

This cynical exploitation of minority rights stands in stark contrast to Israel’s domestic record. Inside Israel, Palestinian citizens face institutionalized discrimination, economic marginalization and surveillance. In the West Bank, settlers routinely terrorize Palestinian communities under the protection of the Israeli army. In Gaza, Israel has turned the Strip into a humanitarian catastrophe zone, with its latest assault resulting in mass civilian deaths and infrastructure collapse. How can such a state claim to have the moral authority to lecture others on the protection of minorities?

The international community must not be fooled. Israel’s interventionist rhetoric regarding Syria is not rooted in humanitarian concern — it is an extension of an expansionist doctrine that has no regard for international law or the sovereignty of other nations. If left unchecked, this policy threatens to tear apart what remains of Syria’s territorial integrity and ignite further chaos across the region, from Iraq to Lebanon and Jordan.

True regional peace and security will never be achieved through bombs masquerading as benevolence or through schemes that weaponize ethnic and sectarian identities. It will only come through justice, genuine respect for sovereignty and a global stand against policies that exploit human suffering for strategic gain.

• Hani Hazaimeh is a senior editor based in Amman. X: @hanihazaimeh