Israel has been secretly supplying weapons, ammunition, and gear to Syria’s Druze minority since Bashar al-Assad’s government collapsed last year, according to the Washington Post. 

The report stated that 500 rifles, along with ammunition and body armor, were airdropped to arm the Druze militia known as the “Military Council” in Syria’s southern Sweida province. 

Arms transfers began following Israel’s occupation of southern Syria in December 2024 and peaked in April amid clashes between Druze fighters and forces loyal to Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Israel is also reportedly providing monthly payments of $100 to $200 to roughly 3,000 Syrian Druze militiamen. According to the report, the goal of this support is to cultivate a loyal proxy force amid mistrust of Sharaa, a former commander with ties to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

“Israeli officials supported arming the Druze based on two considerations. They broadly viewed US and EU efforts to work with Sharaa as ‘naive,’ seeing him as an unreformed Islamist militant who posed a threat to Israel if allowed to accrue power. They also felt a moral obligation to protect the Syrian brethren of the influential Druze community in Israel,” the report says. 

In a recent interview after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Sharaa criticized Israel’s backing of what he called “separatist movements” like the Druze, accusing it of “expansionist ambitions.” 

He warned that such policies could trigger wider regional conflicts and expressed hope that Israel would withdraw from demilitarized buffer zones to let Syria stabilize.