Israel sends humanitarian aids to Syria

According to its foreign ministry on Thursday, March 13, 2025, Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Druze communities in Syria.

This has been on for over the past few weeks, as a further sign of Israel’s support for the minority group.

The ministry said that over the past few weeks, 10,000 packages of humanitarian aid were thus far delivered to the Druze community in the battle areas of Syria.

The packages included basic goods like oil, flour, salt and sugar, and were mostly delivered to the southern province of Suwayda, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Druze is an Arab minority present in Syria, Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Lebanon.

They practise a faith that originated in Islam but which has a distinct identity.

In Israel, many Druze serve in the military, including in the war in Gaza, and some have reached senior ranks.

Since the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Israeli leaders have expressed deep mistrust of the new Syrian government.

It described the new government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) movement as a Jihadist group.

HTS was affiliated with extremist group Al Qaeda but later renounced the connection.

Israel has called for the rights of Syrian minority groups including the Druze to be protected.

This week, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Syrian Druze would be allowed to enter and work in the Golan Heights.

Golan Heights is a region which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war.

A group of around 100 senior figures from Syria’s Druze are also expected to visit the Golan Heights on Friday, members of the community said.

United Nations-backed experts on Thursday accused Israel of various means they waged war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The means they listed include “the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence.”

Israel’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva rejected the allegations and accused the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The territory was created by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, of relying on “second-hand, single, uncorroborated sources.”

Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission, accusing it and the council of being biased against it.

The commission’s report examined the widespread destruction of Gaza, the use of heavy explosives in civilian areas and Israeli attacks on hospitals and health facilities.

It said all three led to “disproportionate violence against women and children.”

Israel says it took extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians in the 15-month war, which has been paused by a fragile ceasefire.

It blames civilian deaths and destruction on Hamas because the militants operate in residential areas.

Israel sends food aid to Druze minority group in Syria

Israel says its aid to Syria’s Druze is aimed at seeking to forge ties with the minority to shape the country’s troubled transition from civil war.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the operation was conducted in recent weeks in coordination with local Druze leaders.

It added that most of the aid was delivered to the overwhelmingly Druze southern region of Sweida.

Israel says it is supporting an embattled minority in a country now ruled by Islamists.

But many Druze have rejected its overtures, and critics accuse Israel trying to weaken and divide Syria following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad.

Israel seized a buffer zone in southern Syria shortly after Assad’s overthrow and has carried out waves of airstrikes to destroy Syria’s military.

It has ordered the new security forces not to operate south of the capital, Damascus.

Israel says it is acting in Syria to protect its citizens from Iran-backed groups that were allied with Assad as well as the new government.

The new government said to be led by a former senior al-Qaida leader who cut ties with the group several years ago.

Israel’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva rejected the allegations and accused the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

It accused the Commission which created the territory and the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, of relying on “second-hand, single, uncorroborated sources.”

Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission, accusing it and the council of being biased against it.

In its report released Thursday, the commission examined the widespread destruction of Gaza.

It also examined the use of heavy explosives in civilian areas and Israeli attacks on hospitals and health facilities.

It said all three led to “disproportionate violence against women and children.”

Israel says it took extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians in the 15-month war, which has been paused by a fragile ceasefire.

It blames civilian deaths and destruction on Hamas because the militants operate in residential areas.

The commission also accused Israeli security forces of rape and sexual violence against Palestinian detainees.

Israel denies any systematic abuse of prisoners and says it takes action when there are violations.

The commission is led by former U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay.

Its findings can be used as evidence for the International Criminal Court or other bodies that seek to prosecute war crimes.

Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission, accusing it and the council of being biased against it.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.

A U.N. envoy last year said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape and sexual violence in the attack.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Although it does not say how many of the dead were combatants.

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