Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday claimed to have previously spoken with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa about violence towards the Druze community, in his first acknowledgement of direct contact.
Netanyahu did not say when exactly the call took place, but implied it had been during bloody clashes in southern Syria in July of 2025 involving Druze factions, Bedouin fighters and government security forces.
"I called al-Sharaa. It was a very short, very sharp conversation, and the slaughter stopped," Netanyahu said at an election rally with Israel's Druze community, according to footage aired by Israel's public broadcaster KAN.
The 2025 clashes erupted in Syria's Sweida province between armed Druze factions and Bedouin fighters, with government security forces and some tribal groups then intervening on the side of the Bedouins.
More than 2,000 people were killed, including 789 Druze civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog.
A committee set up by the Syrian government said it had documented 1,760 deaths.
At the time, government forces and their allies were accused of executing civilians and other abuses.
Israel, which also has a Druze population, intervened militarily during the clashes, with strikes in Sweida and against government targets in Damascus, saying it was defending the minority community.
Government-aligned forces later withdrew from Sweida city, leaving a fragile ceasefire in place, and in July of this year Damascus said it had begun trying suspects over the violence.
Since the December 2024 ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria and sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan since 1974.
It has also carried out repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory and has vowed to keep troops in a so-called "security zone" in southern Syria, where it seeks a broader demilitarised area.
Syria's new leaders have condemned Israeli military action in the country's south but have refrained from responding with force.
Despite the tensions, Syria and Israel have held several rounds of direct talks as they edge towards a security agreement.
(AFP)
