Israel has permitted injured Syrian Druze to enter its territory for medical treatment, as the minority continues to fight against the new Damascus government, i24 reported on May 1.

Tel Aviv’s humanitarian action comes amid worsening tensions and clashes between jihadists and the minority Druze in the southern Damascus's suburbs.

The spiritual leader of the Druze community in Syria, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, called for international protection following recent killings, stating they no longer trust the new Turkish-backed regime led by former terror leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen reported on May 1.

"Requesting international protection is a legitimate right for people facing massacres," Al-Hijri said in a statement, referring to clashes and casualties in the past two days in areas near Damascus and villages in rural Sweida.

Al-Hijri urged the international community "not to continue ignoring and obscuring the massacres happening to us and our people."

He stressed that "what is happening requires the immediate intervention of international peacekeeping forces to prevent these crimes from continuing and to stop them immediately," issuing "an urgent appeal to protect innocent, unarmed people."

The spiritual leader declared, "We no longer trust an entity that claims to be a government because governments do not kill their people through takfiri gangs affiliated with them."

He added, "We do not trust the presence of their elements among us because they are merely instruments of killing, bloodshed, kidnapping, and falsifying facts with sectarian, takfiri thinking towards everyone."

Al-Hijri described what is happening as "an unjustified campaign of extermination," noting that "the takfiri Daesh massacres were unexpected and came to kill and terrorise."

On April 29, IntelliNews reported that at least nine people, including five Druze men, were killed in sectarian clashes that erupted overnight on April 28 in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus.

"A short while ago, three Syrian-Druze citizens were evacuated from Syria to receive medical treatment in Israel," the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed via Telegram. "The injured citizens were evacuated to the Ziv Medical Centre in Safed after sustaining injuries in Syrian territory."

This development follows recent IDF strikes against Syrian targets reportedly involved in attacks on Druze civilians. The military action came after IDF Chief of General Staff LTG Eyal Zamir authorised preparations for strikes against Syrian regime targets should violence against Druze communities persist.

"Today (April 30), the IAF struck operatives on the outskirts of Damascus who had attacked Druze civilians," the IDF stated, adding that its forces are "monitoring developments in the region, and IDF troops are deployed and prepared for defence and developments in the area of Syria," the IDF announced.

The situation has sparked solidarity demonstrations among Druze communities in Israel, with protesters waving flags in support of their counterparts across the northern border.

Some have reportedly even crossed into Syria. Already, at the end of 2024, six Druze communities in southern Syria voiced their desire to become part of Israel.