H.A. Hazony Profile picture
Dec 13 12 tweets 4 min read Read on X
The Druze of southern Syria have publicly declared their desire to secede from Syria and be annexed to Israel.

Based on topography this is what the annexation would look like.

The IDF has already taken over the DMZ in yellow and moved into some of the Druze towns.
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For a recap on who the Druze are, see my thread from earlier this year:

A video has been released of the representatives of the Druze villages gathering on the border with Israel saying:

"Where is our fate? Israel!"

"We ask to be annexed to the Israeli Golan to preserve our dignity."
While it is unclear from the video who these people represent other than the town of Hader (they mention the "surrounding area")

I have marked the towns in the Mt. Hermon region with a majority Druze population (thanks to a map made by @BenTzionMacales) Image
This deceleration comes just days after @IsraelWarRoom reported that Netanyahu met with the leader of the Druze community in Israel (who have close kinship ties with the Syrian Druze).

Netanyahu emphasized the need for security for the Syrian Druze. Image
From a broader perspective, this would bring Israel's border just 25 km (15.5 miles) from Damascus.

The Druze live in a mountainous region, so it is conceivable to see their territory as a defensible front line in the face of whatever regime comes to power in Syria. Image
An additional video floating about, which I found through @visegrad24, purports to be of a resident of the city of Suwayda.

He calls Netanyahu a hero and calls on Druze politicians to work towards annexation into Israel.
The Druze population in Suwayda is greater, but as you see on the map, they aren't contiguous to Israel, and IDF troops are not currently anywhere near there.

The area is referred to as "Druze Mountain"

We need to see more action before projecting any kind of annexation there. Image
These two regions are the entire Druze population in Syria.

If they were to be annexed to Israel, a majority of the world's Druze would be living in Israel.

The State of Israel would become the de facto Druze homeland 70 some years after doing the same for the Jewish people. Image
The Druze historically supported Assad and are technically not Muslim.

They have good reason to be very afraid of the Islamist rebels taking over Damascus.

Annexing to Israel is a drastic measure, one they would only take if they feared possible genocide.
As I wrote in my thread on Turkey's actions in Syria, so far the Turks have been brutally cracking down on the Kurds in northern Syria. The Druze don't want to be next:

To understand Israeli interests in Syria, see my thread here.

In short, Israel wants as much space between itself and Jihadi forces:

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More from @HAHazony

Dec 11
It's been two days since Assad fled Syria, the government collapsed, and the rebels took power.

Why then does the fighting continue?
Why is Turkey bombing northern Syria?
And what are the key Turkish interests in Syria?

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Turkey played a pivotal role in toppling the Assad regime, supplying HTS with armored vehicles & Toyotas.

The Rebels; "Shaheen" suicide drone is allegedly of Ukrainian design, how it found its way to Syria is still unclear, but Turkey may have played a role Image
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Furthermore, Turkey exerts direct control over the Syrian National Army.

Together with their proxies, they took control of large regions in Northern Syria between 2016-2019. Image
Read 12 tweets
Dec 10
In the past two days, Israel has bombed more than 250 targets across Syria.

Simultaneously, IDF forces have moved into the Israel-Syria demilitarized zone.

Why is Israel getting involved in the Syrian war?
What are the core Israeli interests?
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Assad's regime was propped up by Iran and Hezbollah. Israel's war decimated these forces and kicked the legs out of Assad's defenses.

In Aleppo, the first city to fall to the rebels, Hezbollah troops had been fully withdrawn. Assad was left alone.
Israel caused Assad's collapse Image
The forces now taking power in Syria are not sympathetic to Israel.

HTS and SNA are Turkish proxies, allied with Hamas, and subscribe to a radical Jihadi worldview.

Turkey took advantage of Iran's collapse in the face of the IDF to maximize its position. Image
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Read 11 tweets
Nov 17
In the past year, some have declared that Christians and Nietzscheans are inherently opposed, that collaboration between the two is impossible

What exactly was Nietzsche's view of Christianity?

And is a political alliance between Nietzscheans and Christians possible? Thread. Image
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Nietzsche took Christianity very seriously. He devoted attention to it in most of his works. The faith was, to him, THE great question of our time.

Nietzscheans who fail to take Christianity seriously should be dismissed as unserious people.
1/
For Nietzsche, Christianity was the essence of Western civilization. The faith was the engine by which all progress had been made in Europe.

Christianity bound and directed human drives to accumulate and spiritualize power, thereby building civilization.
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Read 20 tweets
Oct 6
Israel's war with Hezbollah in 2006 is considered one of the IDF's poorest military operations. '06 is remembered bitterly in Israel. With news of the first deaths in the IDF incursion into Lebanon, one wonders:

What went wrong for Israel in 2006? Will it happen again?
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Israeli leadership deeply misunderstood the Second Lebanon War.

In fact, they didn't even call it a war, they referred to it as a mere military operation and assumed it would be over quickly.

In practice, the war lasted for 34 days.
1/
Since the 70's, when the Palestine Liberation Organization moved into Lebanon & destabilized the country, the "Jewel of the Levant" has become a hotbed of terrorist activity.

Hezbollah was founded in 1982 as one of these groups, and by Iranian patronage, became the largest.
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Read 23 tweets
Sep 29
In 10 days:
*Mossad struck 5,000 Hezbollah operatives in "pager attack."

*IAF assassinated Hezbollah command in one strike.

*Hezbollah's leader killed during Netanyahu UN speech.

Wasn't this war about occupation in Gaza? Why is Lebanon involved? What happens now?

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The first thing you have to know is that this is a war between Israel and Iran.

As @Amir_Avivi has said many times, Iran has constructed a ring of fire to strangle Israel from all directions:

Hamas in Gaza,
Hezbollah in Lebanon,
Militias in Syria and Iraq,
Houthis in Yemen.
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As long as you believe that this war is about occupation, you will be blindsided by events.

For example: Hamas had full control over Gaza for 20 years. Why would they risk it all by antagonizing Israel on October 7th?

Didn't they know that would be a suicide mission?

2/
Read 28 tweets
Jul 28
The IDF has now released photos proving the rocket was of Hezbollah origins, amounting to a clear casus belli. If Israel was looking for the reason to invade Lebanon, they just got it.

Who are the Druze? Why did Nasrallah target them? Why now?
And how will Israel respond? Image
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The Druze are a small ethno-religion of some 1-2 million living mostly in the Levant.

The faith dates back to ~1000 A.D., emerging from Shi'a Islam under the influence of various philosophies.

Their beliefs are esoteric, & knowledge about their faith is hard to verify. Image
What is commonly agreed is that Druze are monotheists, referring to themselves by that term in Arabic (al-Muwaḥḥidūn), which is their native tongue.

They emerged out of Arab and Muslim peoples, and see themselves as followers of Moses' father-in-law Jethro the prophet. Image
Read 21 tweets

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