Likud MK says he entered Syria to ensure no Druze Israelis are killed, taken hostage after they rushed border

MK Afef Abed, a Druze lawmaker for Likud, confirms that he entered Syria earlier today with MK Hamad Amar, of Yisrael Beytenu, to try and encourage Druze youth who crossed the border to return to Israel.

“I entered on my own accord to bring back the Druze youth who entered on their own and to protect them,” he tells Kan correspondent Yaara Shapira, adding that along with Amar, he is currently in the Syrian Druze town of Hader.

“I’m here to ensure that we won’t have any hostages or bodies,” he says, adding that he is “hopeful” that his ongoing efforts will be successful in returning the Druze youth to Israel, after they entered Syria in their hundreds earlier today amid deadly violence against their Syrian counterparts.

Abed says that the massacre of his people in the Sweida region of southern Syria is reminiscent of the carnage inflicted on southern Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, but that the response from the Druze community, and the immediate attempt to reach the scene, is as well.

“When October 7 happened, all the Druze rushed to the south without thinking about what would happen there, what they would do there, because that’s our mentality,” he says.

Contradicting Amar, Abed says the two lawmakers entered Syria without any security forces personally accompanying them.