Watch Webinar – Strife in Syria: The Threat to Syrian Druze
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The short-lived period of relative stability in Syria after the Assad dictatorship’s collapse and the Sharaa regime’s rise is over. Sectarian fighting in early July between Syria’s Bedouin and Druze minorities in the Suwayda region led to Syrian military intervention that indiscriminately targeted the Druze. This led Israel to conduct airstrikes aiming to demilitarize areas of Syria—including Suwayda—near Israel’s borders and to protect the embattled Syrian Druze.
Though a tenuous ceasefire slowed the conflict’s pace, the Syrian Druze continue facing dire circumstances. And, as a recent JINSA policy paper observes, the internecine conflict has major regional implications. The new Syrian government’s treatment of minorities is an important bellwether of the regime’s ability and willingness to turn Syria into a stable, constructive, and moderate regional player.
JINSA hosted a webinar on the situation facing Syria’s Druze minority and Israeli and U.S. policy toward Syria. The webinar featured JINSA Distinguished Fellow IDF MG (ret.) Yaakov Amidror, Israel’s former National Security Advisor, Andrew Tabler, the Martin J. Gross Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Alex Makled, Managing Director at Accenture and an outspoken advocate for Syria’s Druze community who holds positions in the American Druze Society and the Jabal Alrayan Foundation.
JINSA Director of Foreign Policy Jonathan Ruhe moderated the discussion.
IDF MG (ret.) Yaakov Amidror IIDF Major General (ret.) Yaakov Amidror is a Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy Distinguished Fellow. General Amidror was formerly the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel, as well as the head of the National Security Council, from 2011-2013. During his 36-year career in the IDF, Maj. Gen. Amidror served as Commander of IDF Military Colleges, Military Secretary for the Minister of Defense, Director of the Intelligence Analysis Division, and as Intelligence Officer for the Northern Command. |
Alex Makled Alex Makled is a Managing Director at Accenture and an outspoken advocate for Syria’s Druze community. Alex is an American Druze who was born in Sweida City, Syria. He has various positions in Druze civic organisations, including the American Druze Society and Jabal Alrayan Foundation which promote the peace and security of the Syrian and Lebanese Druze in the Middle East. He has a home in Sweida Syria and visits there occasionally. |
Andrew Tabler Andrew J. Tabler is the Martin J. Gross Senior Fellow in the Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics at The Washington Institute, where he focuses on Syria, the Levant, and U.S. Middle East Policy. Tabler served as senior advisor to the Special Envoy for Syria Engagement at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (2020-2021) and director for Syria at the National Security Council’s Middle East Affairs Directorate (2019) during the final days of the ISIS caliphate and the rigorous debate over the U.S. troop presence in Syria. |
Jonathan Ruhe Jonathan Ruhe is JINSA Director of Foreign Policy. Prior to joining JINSA, he worked at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), where he focused on Middle East and Former Soviet Union security issues. His commentary has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Dispatch, and various international media outlets. |