{"id":127254,"date":"2025-07-16T08:55:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T08:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=127254"},"modified":"2025-07-16T08:55:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T08:55:40","slug":"israel-urges-syrian-forces-to-withdraw-from-druze-majority-suwayda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/127254\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel urges Syrian forces to withdraw from Druze-majority Suwayda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz&nbsp;on Wednesday called on the Syrian transitional government to immediately withdraw its forces from the city of Suwayda, southern Syria, and demanded the release of detained Druze residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement, Katz said, &#8220;As we have made clear and warned, Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarization policy we have decided on.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Israeli Air Force conducted seven airstrikes targeting positions held by Syrian government forces, including units from the Ministries of Defense and Interior, as well as an artillery battalion in the Daraa countryside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Katz emphasized that the Israeli military will continue to strike Syrian positions until a full withdrawal is achieved. \u201cThe IDF will continue to strike regime forces until they withdraw from the area, and will soon escalate its response against the regime if the message is not understood,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clashes in Suwayda have now entered their fourth consecutive day, following the deployment of Syrian government forces into the city. Fighting has intensified, with the use of heavy weapons and rocket launchers in residential areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz instructed the Israeli military to target Syrian forces and weaponry deployed in Suwayda, in response to what they described as an urgent security and humanitarian situation affecting the Druze population in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Abdulsalam Khoja<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz&nbsp;on Wednesday called on the Syrian transitional government to immediately withdraw its forces from the city of Suwayda, southern Syria, and demanded the release of detained Druze residents. In a statement, Katz said, &#8220;As we have made clear and warned, Israel will not abandon the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":127255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-developments","category-syria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Israel urges Syrian forces to withdraw from Druze-majority Suwayda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz&nbsp;on Wednesday called on the Syrian transitional government to immediately\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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