This week’s sectarian violence in the southwestern Syrian province of Suweida, which ended on July 18 with a ceasefire brokered by the United States, has temporarily upended Israel’s plan to improve relations with the new government in Syria.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara deployed forces to Suweida in mid-July to quell tensions after clashes broke out between the Syrian Druze minority and Bedouin tribesmen.

Shara’s peacekeeping mission went sideways as Syrian forces clashed with Druze fighters, confirming the suspicions of some Druze that the Syrian Islamist regime is not well disposed toward the Druze minority.

During the clashes, hundreds of Druze, Bedouin and Syrian civilians and combatants were killed.

Israel, whose northern border is relatively close to Suweida, was immediately drawn into the conflict. Israel’s motives for intervention were clear.

First, Israel is bent on keeping hostile elements out of this corner of Syria, which is close to the Golan Heights. Second, the plight of Syria’s Druze concerned Israel because it stirred unrest among the 150,000 Israeli Druze and the 20,000 Druze of the Israeli-occupied Golan, which the Israeli army captured during the 1967 Six Day War.

Taking these interrelated factors into account, Israel struck Syrian military forces for the first time since Shara’s appointment as president. Shara assumed office in January after his predecessor, Bashar al-Assad, was deposed by forces loyal to Shara. An ex-jihadist, Shara was formerly aligned with Al Qaeda in Iraq and Islamic State in Syria.

With Assad’s sudden fall, the lengthy Syrian civil war ended.

From July 14 onward, the Israeli Air Force conducted more than 160 strikes across southern Syria, bombing Syrian troops, tanks, vehicles, and military........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)