In a Galilee war room, Startup Nation’s Druze mobilize to help their Syrian brethren in Sweida

JULIS, Galilee — Dr. Osama Sheikh, a Galilee Medical Center anesthesiologist, huddled in front of a computer with Tarik Sirhan, a data analyst, on a recent Wednesday afternoon in a war room set up in the community center of this Druze village in the Galilee.

The two Druze volunteers are setting up a platform so doctors in the devastated Sweida province in Syria can request medical supplies. Some 780,000 Druze are now under siege there.

According to reports, about 1,800 Druze have been killed by Syrian government-led forces amid acts of rape, beheadings and executions.

“We’re a start-up, helping doctors in Sweida get the medical supplies they need,” said Sheikh. “We’ve heard from local sources there that doctors are amputating people’s limbs without any anesthesia. There are bodies in the street that nobody can get to and that are being eaten by dogs and wolves.”

Under chandeliers, with an endless supply of black coffee, olives and traditional Druze dishes, Sheikh, Sirhan and dozens of other volunteers from all over Israel have been working around the clock to track and monitor what is happening inside Sweida.

“The Druze are being killed simply because they are Druze,” Sheikh said. “It’s outrageous how hypocritical the world is for being deaf to what is happening there.”

Fighting between the Syrian government and the Druze

Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former member of an al-Qaeda-linked terror group who led the broad rebel coalition that defeated Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December, has vowed that his new government will protect religious minorities. However, since his rule began, hundreds of Druze, Christians and Alawites — former Assad loyalists — have been killed, some of them in brutal executions.

Syria is mostly settled by Sunni Muslims, and Druze make up about three percent of the population. The government is now run by Islamists, some of whom are linked to extremist groups.

The Druze are a mystic sect that broke away from Shiite Islam in the 11th century. There are approximately 1 million Druze in the world. Most live in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Israel. They keep many tenets of their religion a secret, but they consider the figures of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed to be prophets. Druze do not accept converts.

Intense battles between the local Druze population and Bedouin militias backed by Syrian government forces began on July 13.

The road linking Sweida, the center of the bloodshed, to Damascus has been cut off since July 20.

On August 9, a spiritual leader of Syria’s Druze community, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, whose fighters clashed with pro-government gunmen in Sweida province last month, thanked US President Donald Trump, Israel and Gulf Arab countries for their help in ending the violence.

But Akram, a former Druze officer in the IDF who asked that his last name be withheld, said by telephone the following day that the violence had not stopped, and “terrorists are attacking Druze villages each night.”

Israeli Druze leader Sheikh Muafak Tarif, leader of the 150,000-strong Israeli Druze community, told The Times of Israel in the war room that he had written letters to Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, demanding a humanitarian corridor into Sweida province, the heartland of Syria’s Druze minority.

“I call on the world to stop the killing of our Druze brothers and sisters,” he said. “Our people are being subjected to ethnic cleansing and systematic murder, and the world is silent.”

‘No water, no fuel, no food’

Akram is one of four Druze former IDF officers who helped launch the war room. On his computer, he showed The Times of Israel a map of Syria, pointing out a water reservoir in Sweida that was poisoned by government forces who, he said, are bolstered by outside militant and terror groups, including ISIS and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which had its terror designation lifted by the United States in July.

“We’re going to find thousands of people whom ISIS terrorists have killed,” Akram said. “They’ve destroyed the entire infrastructure of the region. They’ve burned down houses. They’re thinking into the future. They don’t want people to move back there. There is no water, no fuel, no food.”

Since July 13, Akram has spent countless nights grabbing a few hours of sleep in his car. People call him from Syria at all hours in desperation. One Sunday, someone called at 3 a.m. to say they had five slices of bread to feed 17 people.

“These are deadly Islamic extremists who are killing Druze because of their religion,” Akram said. “Where is Al Jazeera? Where is the press? Where are the NGOs? Where is the Red Cross? Nobody is there to protect the Druze in Syria except Sheikh Tarif and us.”

‘Druze are being butchered because of their religion’

Akram emphasized that Israelis should not view the situation as a problem for the Druze alone.

“This is an issue of safety for Israel,” he said. “There will soon be jihadists with weapons supported by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey right on our border.”

The Syrian government came to Sweida to fight the Druze, he explained, adding that the Druze didn’t launch an offensive in Damascus, but that government-allied forces came to Sweida. He doesn’t view the clashes as politically motivated.

“Druze are being butchered because of their religion,” he said.

“Throughout history, the Druze have never started a war outside our own villages,” Akram said. “We don’t have any desire to rule a country. We are here to spread peace until we die.”

He said that when people ask someone if he is Druze and he says yes, “he is executed.”

Sheikh, the doctor volunteering in the war room, added, “There is a genocide going on in Sweida.”

Israel has vowed to protect the Syrian Druze community, and the IDF struck targets in the country last month as a warning to the Syrian regime. It has set up a field hospital in southern Syria and has also evacuated some wounded Druze to Israeli hospitals.

In the war room, talk of atrocities

Sheikh said he spent 18 months in Gaza fighting in the IDF in the war against Hamas, sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed Israel, killing some 1,200 civilians and kidnapping 251 people into Gaza.

“I know how Israelis fight in Gaza,” he said. “I know of nobody who was killed there for being a Muslim.”

Footage circulates on social media of countless atrocities being perpetrated in Sweida, Sheikh said, with many filmed by the government forces. Everyone in the war room has terrible stories they have watched or heard from Sweida.

“People call me because they’re suffering from PTSD after watching videos of women being raped,” said war room volunteer Asil Meray, a therapist who works at NATAL Israel Trauma and Resiliency Center, an apolitical nonprofit that offers psychological treatment to trauma victims of war or terror.

Tarif issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, saying that it was permissible for women to take pills to abort fetuses possibly conceived through rape, even though abortion is forbidden by the Druze religion.

“I heard that some women have killed themselves,” said Najwa Mulla, speaking in a whisper. Mulla, who has a hair salon in Julis, spent the last few weeks volunteering, organizing food and medical supplies to be sent to Syria from a nearby warehouse. She said that she has received support and donations from Christians, Jews and Muslims around Israel.

The situation is ‘catastrophic’

Sirhan, who is building the digital platform for doctors inside Syria, said that it will launch this week.

“Doctors and nurses have been writing down the medicines they needed by hand, taking photos, and sending them to us on WhatsApp,” Sirhan said. “The new app will allow verified doctors to receive the supplies they need,” including those for allergies, oncology and chronic diseases.

He said he believes that there are about 10 hospitals still operating in Sweida. He was unable to confirm when or how the supplies would reach those in need.

The situation is “catastrophic,” said Tarif. “I issue an urgent appeal to world leaders to stop the massacres before it is too late.”