Visiting the war room set up by Israeli Druze to aid their co-religionists in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he ordered the use of military force in Syria because he is “not a naive person.”
“I understand who we are dealing with, what we are dealing with, and that is why we used force,” he says during a visit to the Druze town of Julis in northern Israel. “I told President Trump: we both believe in the same idea — it’s called peace through strength. First comes strength — then comes peace. That’s how it is, certainly in our region, but not only here. But first and foremost, in our region.”
Israel is focusing on three goals around the Druze in Syria, he says: Protecting the community in Sweida and elsewhere in the country; ensuring that there is a demilitarized zone south of Damascus; and establishing a humanitarian corridor to send aid to the Druze in southern Syria.
The operation center sits in the compound of Israeli Druze leader Sheikh Muafak Tarif, leader of the 150,000-strong community.
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