Israeli Druze leader seeks US security guarantees for Syrian counterparts

After the bloodshed in Sweida this year, Sheikh Muafak Tarif says Washington must fulfill ‘duty’ to protect minority group, stresses need for Druze self-determination

GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) — Israeli Druze leader Sheikh Muafak Tarif urged the United States to guarantee the security of the Druze community in Syria to prevent a recurrence of intense violence earlier this year in Sweida, a Druze-majority province in Sunni-dominated Syria.

Washington needed to fulfill its “duty” to safeguard the rights of Syria’s minorities in order to encourage stability, Tarif told Reuters on Tuesday during an official visit to the UN in Geneva, adding that US support would also remove the need for Israeli intervention in Syria’s south.

“We hope that the United States, President Trump, and America as a great power, we want it to guarantee the rights of all minorities in Syria … preventing any further massacres,” he said.

US President Donald Trump vowed in November to do everything he can to make Syria successful after landmark talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Bloody clashes in July

The Druze are a minority group whose faith is an offshoot of Islam and its members are spread primarily between Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

In July, clashes between Druze and Bedouin residents broke out in Sweida after tit-for-tat kidnappings, leading to a week of bloodletting that shattered generations of fragile coexistence.

A man waves an Israeli flag over a picture of Sheikh Muafak Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze in Israel, during a weekly rally in Sweida, southern Syria, on September 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Fahd Kiwan)

The violence worsened when government forces dispatched to restore order effectively sided with the Bedouins, with widespread reports of looting, summary killings and other abuses.

Israel entered the fray with encouragement from its Druze minority, attacking government forces with the stated aims of protecting Syrian Druze.

Tens of thousands of people from both communities were uprooted, with the unrest all but ending the Bedouins’ presence across much of Sweida.

Hundreds of civilians, mostly Druze, were killed, many of them by government forces.

In the aftermath, Druze leaders called for a humanitarian corridor from the Golan in Israel to Sweida and demanded self‑determination, which the government rejects.

‘Need to rebuild trust’

Asked about proposals by influential Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari to separate Sweida from Syria, Tarif stressed the need for self-determination, as well as rights and safety for all minorities.

It was inconceivable to ask the Druze to surrender their weapons, he said. Talks to bring Sweida’s former police force onto Damascus’ payroll — while allowing the Druze to retain wide local autonomy — had been making steady progress until July’s bloodshed derailed them.

Syrian government security forces block Bedouin fighters, foreground, from entering Sweida province, in Busra al-Harir village, southern Syria, July 20, 2025. (Omar Sanadiki/AP)

Al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander who led rebel factions that ousted former long-time leader Bashar al-Assad last December, has vowed to protect the Druze. However, Hajari insists he poses an existential threat to his community and in September rejected a 13-point, US-brokered roadmap to resolve the conflict.

Asked if talks should be revived, Tarif said trust had to be rebuilt by allowing residents to return to their homes, and permitting full humanitarian access to Sweida.

“There is no trust today … Trust must be rebuilt,” he said.