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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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?
Thread.
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
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.
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?
Thread.
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. 2/
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?