Who is rubble and why Israel attacks Syria?

A fresh wave of deadly sectarian violence shocked Syria, giving in the center of a fragile landscape in the country when the new government tries to impose its powers over the broken territory.

On Sunday, July 13, the abduction of a minority merchant was reported, causing the days of deaths between the police of Druz and the Sunni militants of Bedouin in southern Syria.

Later, on Tuesday, July 15, Israel intervened in the military mode, saying that his forces were seeking to defend rubble and eliminate pro -government forces accused of attacking them in Musta. At least 300 people were reportedly killed on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports.

Violence is the first in the province of the most Suwida after fighting in April and May between the fighters of rubble and the new power forces in Syria killed dozens. Prior to that, there were hundreds of minority members Alavit, to which former Bashar al -Assad, was killed in Syria’s coastal provinces in March.

The deadly riots, along with the brutal Israeli strikes, reinterpreted the fear of destroying security in Syria when the country has been fighting the fall of the civil war, and recent Islamist was stunningly in Damascus in December 2024.

Druz is an Arab-speaking ethno-religious minority in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and occupied Galans. Faith of rubble is an offshoot of Shiite Islam with its own unique identity and belief.

Half of it is about a million followers in Syria, where about 3% of the population is. The Druze community in Israel is largely considered to be a faithful Israeli state, thanks to members of military service. About 152,000 people living in the Israeli Galan height live in Israel, according to the Central Bureau of Israeli statistics.

They have historically taken the unstable position in Syria’s political order. During the almost 14-year civil war in Syria, Druz ruled his own militias in southern Syria.

From the drop of Assad in December, The rubble resisted attempts by state power over southern Syria. While the Druze fractions in Syria are divided into their approach to new authorities, ranging from caution to open refusal, many resist the official Syrian presence of security in Soveje and resist integration into the Syrian army – based on local militias.

Despite the Syrian government, which condemns recent attacks on rubble people and promised to restore order in Southern Syria, its forces were also accused of attacking the minority – with the UK Syrian Observatory on Human Rights (SOHR) monitoring, which documented the “reduced shootings”. Such reports have caused distrust among some members of the Druze community to the Damascus authorities.

After the sudden fall of Assad, Israel appeals to the rubble community near its northern border, trying to create alliances with the minorities of Syria. He increasingly positioned himself as a regional defender of minorities, including Kurds, Frames and Alavites in Syria, attacking military places in Syria and government forces.

During the sectarian contractions in May, Israel spent blows near the presidential palace in DamascusSaying it was a warning from the attacks on the rubble. However, some figures of rubble in Syria and Lebanon have accused Israel of inciting sectarian units of promoting their own expansionist aspirations in the region.

The latest strikes first acted as a warning and a deterrent to the Syrian army located in South Syria, and Israel sought to create a demilitarized area in the area. In particular, Israel fears the presence of Islamist militants near its northern border, along the Israeli Galan height.

While on July 15 Israeli air strikes were limited to target security forces and vehicles in Soveje, Israeli military expanded the sphere of their attacks on July 16Striding the Ministry of Defense and the Syrian Army headquarters in Damascus. Syria condemned the attacks.

The strikes represented the most serious Israeli escalation in Syria since December 2024 when it destroyed hundreds of military sites across the country and confiscated buffer zone that does not fall into the Syrian height of Golans. Israel has repeatedly impressed Syria, with the intention of preventing new authorities to build its military capabilities – it is considered as a potential threat to Israel’s security.

“The warnings in Damascus are over – now the painful strikes will come,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on July 16, shortly after the Israeli Damascus hit.

The targeting on the Syrian military headquarters was broadcast live by the leading TV channel of Syria, from their studios, located opposite the building – with a presenter, captured on the studio.

US Secretary of State Mark Rubio said the United States was “very concerned” about violence and announced July 16: “We agreed to the specific steps that will give this disturbing and horrific situation tonight.”

Several Arab states, including Lebanon, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt and Kuwait, have condemned Israeli strikes aimed at the Syrian government and security forces. The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it was called “arrogant Israeli attacks” on Syria, while Iran called the attacks as “too predictable”.

Turkey, a key participant in Syria after Assad, called strikes as “an act of sabotage against Syria’s efforts to ensure peace, stability and security.”

UN Secretary -General Antonio Gutteres also condemned the “escalation” Israeli strikes in Soveid and Damascus.

Violence emphasized the fragility of post -war security and political landscape in Syria, with the latest number of violence causing fears of a new sectarian attack on Syria.

Since Sharaa is trying to establish control over Syria and combine its different groups, it will still be necessary to find out whether its government, which is prevailing Islamist, will agree on the deeply rooted sectarian divisions of Syria, melted over the years of civil war. Sectant clashes, as well as Israeli strikes, threaten to thwart attempts to create a state building and postwar restoration.

For its part, Israel is likely to continue to perceive new authorities, and its affiliated Islamist fighters in the south as a significant security threat – pushing it to search for alliances with groups that can feel alienated by new authorities.